


10 Signs you're Dating Oikawa Tooru

by inabia



Series: the Teen Vogue dating tips series [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Awkwardness, Best Friends, Canon Compliant, Getting Together, Hinata is a great friend, Innuendo, Kageyama Tobio is Bad at Feelings, M/M, Reading
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-02-18 12:04:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 29,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21560869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inabia/pseuds/inabia
Summary: After Hinata confronts him about the nature of his relationship with Oikawa, Kageyama, with the help of an overexcited Hinata, dives into the world of teen magazines and their not-so-helpful tips on how to tell whether or not you're dating someone. Through bad journalism and flash-back, Kageyama discovers that certain things might not be what they seem.(Or, Kageyama and Hinata read a Teen Vogue article to figure out whether or not Kageyama is dating Oikawa.)
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou & Kageyama Tobio, Kageyama Tobio/Oikawa Tooru, Shimizu Kiyoko/Yachi Hitoka
Series: the Teen Vogue dating tips series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1864681
Comments: 429
Kudos: 1083





	1. 10 Signs you're Dating Oikawa Tooru

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Benzipuff](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Benzipuff/gifts), [CranberryCookie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CranberryCookie/gifts).



> NB: I do not intend to bash Teen Vogue. They do more for sex ed than the school system ever could. Thor bless them.

“We’re best friends, right?”

Kageyama glared at Hinata who was sitting on his bed. _Where did that come from?_

“I mean you’re mine. That’s for sure. And I don’t think you have anyone else that could be your best friend. So that means we’re best friends.” Hinata explained. “No reason to get all scary,” the smaller boy added as Kageyama’s look didn’t soften. 

“I guess you’re right, dumbass.” Kageyama commented, turning back to the screen on which the volleyball video was playing.

“You can’t say that we’re best friends and then call me dumbass, dumbass.”

Silence fell back over the room; the two boys watched the players on the screen demonstrate their serves.

They had gone to the end of the year meeting of the volleyball club earlier that day. It marked the end of the volleyball season. Looking back at his first year at Karasuno brought back happy memories: a season in which they’d improved immensely. A season in which they’d made it to national. But of course, it was not only an occasion for celebration. They had to say goodbye to the third years. Even-though Daichi promised they’d come see their games next year, and Suga forced the rest of the team to promise them that’s they carry on their legacy, as soon as the first tear rolled down Asahi’s cheek, the whole team got a bit too emotional.

After eating lunch with the rest of team, Kageyama and Hinata found their way to the ginger boy’s house. They had planned to get some studying done for their finals in a week, but after three weeks without volleyball practice behind them and two more to come it was quickly decided that they would not waste their free time doing non-volleyball related things. So they found themselves in front of Hinata’s laptop watching the highlights of the last World Cup final.

“Best friend should tell each other everything. Even if the other might not like to hear it.”

There it was again. Hinata had been acting weird all week. Or at least it’s been a week since Kageyama has started noticing. Up to now he had thought that it was just how Hinata acted when he could not drown himself in volleyball, but this was just too much.

“Yes.” Kageyama tried tentatively. He was not good at emotional talk, or at any kind of talking if he was being completely honest.

“So, hypothetically, if one of us was dating someone. And even if they thought that the other one would not approve of the person the other person is dating, they should tell the other person.” Hinata was gesticulating wildly, his movements not making anything clearer.

“You’re making absolutely no sense.” Kageyama interrupted Hinata’s gibberish.

“Best friends tell each other when they’re dating someone even if they thought that their best friend might not approve of it.” The ginger boy’s expression grew more and more serious. Kageyama’s confusion turned into concern.

“Are you dating Tsukishima?” That had to be it. Hinata was trying to confide in him, his best friend, about something - or rather someone. Hinata was dating someone; someone he thought Kageyama would not approve of. Out of all the people Hinata could be dating Tsukishima was the one that Kageyama would disapprove of the most. So it had to be it. Hinata was dating Tsukishima.

“No!” Hinata shrieked. “Why would you even think that?”

“You’re the one who’s been talking about dating someone I would not approve of. What am I supposed to think?” The other boy answered. “If it’s not Tsukishima, who are you dating?”

The smaller boy opened his mouth to say something but then decided against it. Instead he threw himself back on the bed hiding his face in his hands drowning a scream of frustration.

This was weird. Hinata was kinda weird on the best of days but this was on another level.

“Stop acting like that, you idiot. You can’t just go all crybaby about dating someone and then refuse to tell me.” Kageyama grew impatient. What was wrong with Hinata?

“You’re even worse than I thought.” The ginger boy sat up again. “I’m not the one dating someone; you are.”

Kageyama blinked in confusion. This had to be a joke. There was no other explanation. Hinata was pulling his leg. He was doing it badly, but he did get Kageyama to seriously believe that Hinata was dating Tsukishima for a second.

His eyes feel back on Hinata who looked unamused. “You’re being serious?”

“Of course, I’m being serious. This is no laughing matter.” Hinata exclaimed. “You just said that we were best friends, and as such we should tell each other everything. Yet, you refuse to tell me that you are dating someone!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I am no dating anyone.”

“Stop being so secretive, Kageyama. I already know that you’re seeing someone. It would just be nice to hear it from you. Just a little ‘Hey Hinata just so you know I’m dating the Grand King it’s not a big deal.’”

“Oikawa?”

“Exactly!”

“No, that’s not it. I’m not dating Oikawa.”

“But you are though.”

“No, I’m not.”

“How would you know?”

“What?” Kageyama yelped. “If I were dating someone, I think I’d know?”

“No offence, Kageyama, but you’re not very good at noticing those kinds of things.” Hinata quickly continued before the other boy could contradict him, “it took you three months to realize that Yachi and Kiyoko were dating, after they’d announced it to the team.”

“Neither did Tanaka and Nishinoya.” Kageyama objected.

“True but they’re in denial.”

The two boys looked at each other in utter confusion. _Where was Hinata getting this from?_ Hinata did sometimes have weird ideas but he was nevertheless very observant and could read people a lot better than Kageyama could. Hinata was the one who pointed out that Ennoshita had started dating a girl from Yachi’s class before the older boy had told the team. Hinata just knew that kind of stuff.

When it comes to dating, Kageyama had never really paid much attention to that subject. Volleyball always came first. He did hear his classmates talk about girls they found cute, but he’d never really understood what they there was about them to get so worked up about. Why be so obsessed about someone? His mind wandered back a few years to a much younger, much shorter version of himself. _Can you please show me your serve, Oikawa senpai? Please teach me, Oikawa senpai? Pay attention to me, Oikawa senpai! Oikawa senpai!_

“Hinata?” Kageyama broke the silence. “Hypothetically, if I were dating someone how would I know?”

“So you admit that you’re dating the Grand King.” Hinata pointed out, a self-satisfied grin stretching across his face.

“That’s not what I said, you idiot.” Hinata’s grin turned into a frown. “I asked you – who supposedly is my best friend whom I can ask everything – how I can tell if I’m dating someone. But if you don’t want to help me-“

“No!” Hinata cut off Kageyama’s complaint. “I want to help you. I’m your best friend after all. But I’ve never dated anyone. I wouldn’t know what that entails.”

The two boys were lost in thoughts staring at the screen of Hinata’s laptop on which the volleyball video had long stopped playing. _This was stupid._ _Why did he let Hinata get into his head like that? He wasn’t dating Oikawa. That’s a ridiculous idea._

_Unless._

“We can ask the internet.” Hinata declared with a triumphant cry, placing the laptop onto his lap. “What do boys do when they’re dating, question mark.” The smaller boy typed into the search engine.

He pressed enter, selected the first link and-

“NO!” Hinata smashed the laptop close.

“How did you not hear how,” Kageyama hesitated for a second, this situation was already awkward enough as it was, “misleading that sounded?”

“It was an innocent enough question, I had no reason to suspect that the first result would be,” Hinata’s cheek turned red, “well, that.”

“Anyways, this is stupid I shouldn’t have asked.” Kageyama stood up from the bed trying to avoid the embarrassing situation.

Hinata, still eying the computer in mistrust, took a deep breath. He exhaled, and in an act of superhuman strength opened the laptop, then rushed his fingers to the touchpad to close the internet browser.

“I said I’d help you, and I will.” The ginger boy’s fingers hovered over the keyboard. “I’m scared to type now. I think google just traumatised me.”

“That’s what you get for not knowing how to use the internet, dumbass.”

“I sacrificed my search history for you. You could at least be grateful, you idiot.” Hinata hesitantly started to type again. “I’ve come so far I’m not going to give up now.”

“You literally haven’t done anything.”

“That’s not the point.” Hinata pressed enter. “Here we go! Let’s see what we have?”

Kageyama sat back down next to the other boy, curiosity taking the better of him.

“‘10 signs you’re dating someone’ that one sounds good.”

“ _Teen Vogue_? Really?” Kageyama interjected before Hinata could press the first link.

“Oh sorry mister Love-Expert,” Hinata pointed at the article just underneath, “But in my very humble opinion I don’t think the website www dot single ladies dot com will give you the answers you need.”

“No need to get sassy.”

Hinata clicked the link. It took the page a few seconds to load. The first things that popped up on the screen were the links to other articles: ‘how to make your foundation last all day’ and ‘everything you need to know before you register to vote.’ And then appeared the title in bold black letters below the red and black _Teen Vogue_ logo: ’10 signs you’re dating someone.’ Beneath the title were a few lines of text: the subtitle. Underneath that was a picture of a couple holding hands: the girl had long wavy blond hair and wore a floral summer dress. She beamed up to the boy whose hand she was holding. The boy looked awfully happy with himself in his baseball shirt and hat, a smile stretching across his face.

At that Kageyama could not help but picture Oikawa in his middle school volleyball uniform. The older boy’s hair sticking to the sides of his face being the only sign of the subhuman effort he just accomplished on the court, as the rest of him radiatespure happiness over a won game. In those moments, observing his upper classmate, Kageyama might have resembled the girl on the picture; minus the long blond hair and the summer dress, but just as fascinated with the scene in front of him.

“I wish I had a girlfriend.” Hinata pulled Kageyama out of his train of thought. “Having someone look at you like that must be nice.”

“I guess.” Kageyama offered as a response, withholding the fact that he just pictured himself as the girl in the picture.

“Ok let’s get started!” Hinata pulled back the sleeves of his sweater as if he were going to start hard manual work and not read an article in a teen magazine. “’Teenage years are hard enough as it is,’” he quoted the article. “That’s right remember last week when I-“

“I don’t want to hear about that again. Can you please just keep reading, you’re not even a sentence in.”

“Ok, I know you want to know more about the thing you have going on with your boyfriend, but that’s no need to get to get all worked up.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Kageyama murmured, his cheek getting a pink tint.

“’Teenage years are hard enough as it is,’” –Hinata resumed –“’questioning the nature of the relationship between yourself and that one person just makes it harder. How do you know whether they’re just your friend or something more? Luckily for you we’ve elaborated this 10-points list on how to tell if you’re dating or not.’”

The ginger haired boy looked up to his friend. “Are you ready?” He asked.

“I suppose.” Kageyama shrugged. However, the nonchalant tone could not cover up the fact that the taller boy was leaning forward to get a better view of the screen.

Hinata smiled. “Let’s do this!”


	2. you spend a lot of time with Oikawa Tooru

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kageyama and Hinata read the first point of the article and Hinata figures out where Kageyama's been disappearing to for the past three weeks.

“Number one,” Hinata exclaimed theatrically.

“Could you maybe not be so dramatic about it,” Kageyama interjected, “this is bad enough as it is. There’s no need for you to blow it out of proportion, dumbass.”

“This whole scenario could come straight out of one of the dramas my mum loves.” Kageyama inhaled sharply. “Ok, I’ll stop. It’s still funny though.”

“Just keep reading.”

“Oh yeah. Number one: ‘you spend a lot of time with them,’” Hinata read the first point on the list. “’While it is fun to spend time with your friends, there is that one person that you just can’t get enough of. You spend most of your free time with them. A relationship – especially in the beginning – consists of getting to know the other person better. Spending as much time as possible together can help strengthen the bond between both parties and let romance bloom. If there’s a person you’re basically glued to it’s very likely that what you share is more than friendship–’”

“That point is stupid. I also spend most of my time with you: between school and volleyball, I can’t seem to get rid of you. But that does not mean that we’re dating.” Kageyama interrupted, with a disgusted look on his face.

“Don’t look at me like that! I’m a catch. Anyone would be happy to date me.” Hinata crossed his arms over his chest. “And you just pointed out that you do in fact hang out with the Great King.”

“I did not,” Kageyama countered.

“You did. You said ‘I _also_ spend time with you.’ That means you _also_ spend time with someone else,” Hinata concluded.

“That’s not what I said. Now, carry on reading.”

Hinata turned back to the article, “’It might seem that spending time with that person is the most important thing in the world right now; however, let us give you a warning. Do not neglect the other aspects of your life: your studies and your friends also need to be tended to. A significant other is a part of your life not a completely new one.’”

Hinata paused visibly pondering over what he just read.

“That’s true, you know.”

“What?”

“What the article says. You’ve been neglecting your duties.”

“And those would be?” Kageyama asked.

“Playing volleyball with me obviously.” Hinata answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “If you don’t toss to me, how am I going to improve?”

“Get someone else to toss to you.”

“But you’re the setter. That’s your job.”

“We aren’t even supposed to play volleyball anyway. We’re supposed to focus on our finals.”

Hinata blinked a few times to make sure the person in front of him really was his best friend, Kageyama Tobio. “Since when do you care about finals?”

“Since we have to pass them to keep playing volleyball.”

“That sounds fake. And even if you’ve been studying more, there’s no way that’s the only reason you’ve been running out of school as soon as the bell rings for the last three weeks. I know you’ve been secretly training without me.” Hinata pointed his finger at Kageyama accusingly.

“Where’d you get that idea from?”

“Forearms don’t usually get bruises from studying,” Hinata said gesturing to the blue spots on Kageyama’s arms that were revealed by his rolled-up sleeves. “And last week you had your hand bandaged. Pretty sure that wasn’t due to a paper cut.”

“Okay, you got me,” Kageyama held his hands up; defeated. “I’ve been training without you.”

“I knew it!” Hinata exclaimed. “You’ve been practicing with the Great King. I must admit I was mad when I first noticed that you’ve been training without me. But knowing that it’s with the Great King makes it all worthwhile. Has he been teaching you all of his secret moves? I bet he has, now that you’re all lovey-dovey with each other.”

“Can you stop making it sound so ridiculous,” Kageyama scoffed.

“It’s still kinda weird,” Hinata noticed. “I thought you guys hated each other.”

“You thought we hated each other and still presumed that we’re dating?”

“Yeah, I didn’t think that through,” Hinata shrugged. “My point still stands though. Anyway, how did you end up hanging out?”

🏐🏐🏐

Kageyama sat on the floor of the gym amongst the rest of the volleyball team. Takeda sensei was giving a speech that was mainly about Nationals; or so Kageyama assumed, he had stopped listening after a few minutes. He didn’t quite understand why people liked to ponder about the past. Nothing about what had happened in Tokyo could be changed now. What could be changed, however, was their performances in the next tournament. They should be training right now, not talking. But most importantly, he just wanted to play volleyball.

Staring at the field he hardly noticed as Takeda sensei ended his speech and Coach Ukai started talking; probably also about Nationals. Kageyama kept thinking about all the aspects he had to improve. As much as he had to make sure his game with Hinata got stronger and more precise,he also had to work on his own skills. With the third year gone their responsibility would fall back onto the remaining part of the team. With Sugawara gone, Kageyama would be the only setter left and that demanded more leadership qualities than he was able to bring up at the moment.

Lost in thoughts Kageyama missed Coach Ukai’s last words. But he could not have missed the team’s reactions even if he had tried.

“That’s not fair!” Hinata yelled.

“What?” Kageyama asked confused.

“You can’t do that!” Tanaka screamed.

“I can. And in fact, I just have.” Coach Ukai corrected. “There will be no training for 4 weeks. You need to rest. I know you don’t like to admit it, but Nationals have taken its toll on us all and we need all the rest we can get. You will all be focusing of your final exams during this free time. Especially the four of you,” he points at Nishinoya, Tanaka, Hinata and Kageyama. “We don’t want to repeat of the training camp disaster.”

“How are we supposed to improve if we don’t get to play?” Nishinoya asked.

“Well if you don’t improve your grades you won’t have to worry about playing at all.” Coach Ukai retorted. “Now get going and don’t forget our end of year meeting in 3 weeks.”

On their way out of the club room, Hinata rushed to Kageyama. “You’ll still play with me, right?”

Behind them Tsukishima laughed.

“W-what Tsuki meant to say is maybe it’s not the best idea for you guys to neglect your studies.” Yamaguchi offered as a response to Hinata’s and Kageyama’s questioning looks.

“No, what I mean is that when those two idiots inevitably fail all their exams, I finally won’t have to see their stupid faces again.” Tsukishima corrected, pushing past the two other first years.

“Tsuki!” Yamaguchi called after his friend before chasing after him.

Sugawara joined his underclassmen and put his arms around their shoulders, “as much as I hate to admit it, Tsukishima has a point. You two better start studying. How is Karasuno supposed to make it to Nationals next year without its killer duo?” He ruffled their hair and joined Daichi who was waiting for him by the school gates.

Hinata and Kageyama walked together in silence up to the point where their way homes diverged.

“Sugawara’s right, you know?” Hinata noted.

Kageyama raised an eyebrow.

“We should really focus on the finals. Would be a shame if we got kicked out of the team because we failed our exams.”

“We better start studying then.”

“Yeah, we better. See you tomorrow Kageyama.”

“See you.”

Kageyama walked home, dragging his feet as he thought of all the studying he had to do once he got home. He cursed the Japanese education system for forcing him to learn how to solve an equation. When in his life would he ever use that skill? And, anyways, it was stupid to cancel practice just because of finals. Actually, that’s when he’d need it the most. His brain only really started functioning after an intense volleyball practi–

“Tobio!”

Kageyama turned around looking for the source of the voice.

“Tobio, what took you so long? I’ve been waiting for 15 minutes.”

“Oikawa?”

The older boy stood up from the bench he was sitting on and joined Kageyama to walk beside him.

“Yes, it’s me your favourite senpai.”

“What do you want?” Kageyama asked not trusting the other boy’s intention. Oikawa randomly showing up somewhere usually meant that he was plotting something. That something usually meant trouble for the people involved. And in that case the person involved was Kageyama.

“Can’t I visit my cute little kohai without ulterior motives?”

“Knowing you, that’s very unlikely.” Kageyama remarks.

“That’s hurtful, Tobio. Did your new senpais at Karasuno teach to be so sassy?”

“No, I got that from my annoying middle-school senpai.”

“You shouldn’t talk about Hajime like that.”

“I wasn’t talking about Iwaizumi,” Kageyama turned right around as he noticed that Oikawa was no longer next to him.

The older boy looked awkwardly at his feet.

“Do you want to play volleyball with me?”

“What?” Kageyama asked.

“You heard me.” Oikawa still avoided Kageyama’s eyes.

“Why me?”

“Hajime has threatened to cancel the end of year team party if anyone at Seijo lets me into the gym or if they even as much as just think about practicing with me. For some reason he gets really worked up about College entrance exams.” It was weird seeing Oikawa like this: so unlike his usually cocky self. He seemed embarrassed, if Oikawa Tooru was even able to feel embarrassment. “But he didn’t say anything about playing with someone that isn’t on the team. So, what do you say? Do you want to play volleyball with me?”

Kageyama considered it. He did want to play volleyball more than anything. There was a lot he could learn from the older boy. But he also thought about all the times Oikawa had excluded him, had made him feel out of place. He should hate him for it. But he didn’t. And now, standing in front of him, Oikawa looked small and shy. A vulnerable creature looking for a friend to play with.

“I would like to play volleyball with you, Oikawa.”

“Really?” Oikawa finally directed his gaze at Kageyama.

“Yes, of course.” Oikawa’s face lit up. He opened his backpack and took something out and–

“Catch!” Kageyama caught the volleyball awkwardly. He examines it.

“That’s from Seijo. I thought you were not allowed in the gym.” He threw the ball back to Oikawa.

“I have a lot to teach you, Tobio.” Oikawa put his backpack back on. “Let’s go!” He turned around and started walking in the direction of the nearby park.

“Does that mean you’ll teach me your serve?” Kageyama took a few fast steps to catch up to the older boy.

“You wish.”

🏐🏐🏐

“Anyway, how did you end up hanging out?”

“I don’t really know. We just kind of did.”

Hinata handed Kageyama the laptop and stood up. He walked to his desk, grabbed a notebook and a pen. Sitting back down he opened the notebook and started writing.

“What are you doing?” Kageyama questioned.

“I’m making a checklist, obliviously.” Hinata kept scribbling.

“A checklist for what?”

“To see how many points in the article apply to you and the Grand King.” Hinata held the notebook up for Kageyama to see. It read: _10 signs you’re dating the Grand King,_ in wonky writing. 

Hinata turned the notebook back around and went back to writing. “Point one: hanging out. Check.” He put a big checkmark next to where he’d wrote _1\. hanging out_.

“Don’t I get a say in that?” Kageyama interjected.

“Absolutely not.”

“That’s rude.”

“Is not,” Hinata put a _2._ underneath the first point. “Hold this,” he handed Kageyama the pen, “and this,” he added the notebook, “and give me this,” he took his computer off of his friend’s lap.

Kageyama stared at the improvised _10 signs you’re dating the Grand King_ list, “this is humiliating.”

“Then so be it.” Hinata turned by to the computer, “Point two:”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't think I'll be back this early with a new chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.  
> All kudos and comments are appreciated.
> 
> See you soon(ish) for the next chapter!


	3. you like the same things as Oikawa Tooru

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Volleyball is played and ice-cream gets eaten.
> 
> (Or, Kageyama being the idiot he is for 2k words straight.)

“Point two is ‘you like the same things as them,’” Hinata read. “Write that down.”

“What?”

“Write that down.”

“No!”

“But you’re the one that has the notebook.”

“I didn’t ask for it. You just gave it to me.”

“This is a team effort. I can’t do everything on my own,” Hinata insisted. “You asked for my help, but I can’t do this alone. Now start writing.”

Kageyama reluctantly started writing _liking the same things_ in a more readable but not less sloppy handwriting than Hinata’s.

“Well you can put a checkmark next to that one for sure,” Hinata said.

“How would you know?” Kageyama looked genuinely confused. “You haven’t even read the paragraph yet.”

“Are you kidding me?” Kageyama stayed perplex. “Is there nothing that comes to mind? Nothing you and the Great King both like?”

“I don’t see where you’re going with this.”

Hinata closed his eyes, took a deep breath, opened his eyes again, and turned to face Kageyama. He opened his mouth to say something but then decided against it.

Hinata turns back to the computer. “Anyway, let’s get back to the article. Where was I? Oh yeah, ‘you like the same things as them. Ever wondered why singers date other singers? Or actors date other actors? If you guessed PR, you wouldn’t be completely wrong. We all still have nightmares from some of the badly executed couple PR stunts from the last few years. Click here to see our top 5 favourites ‘fake couple fails.’” Hinata hesitated for a second.

“You don’t have to read what’s in parenthesis.”

“I know that.”

“Well if you knew, then why did you– “

“Would you let me finish reading?”

“Go on.”

“’The dream couples of Hollywood all have one thing in common: a shared passion. Common interests don’t only provide never-ending conversational topics, but they also create common goals you can work on together. And we all know teamwork makes the dream work! So, what’s your shared passion? Drama? Movies? Music? _Sports_?’” Hinata heavily accentuated the last word.

🏐🏐🏐

For three consecutive days Oikawa had been waiting on the same bench to intercept Kageyama on his way home. He didn’t like to admit it, but Kageyama was looking forward to seeing the older boy and playing volleyball with him. In fact, he anticipated it so much that, during the last hour of class, he kept turning around to the clock at the back of the class. But time only moved slowly. At some point he could have sworn that it even went backwards. All the turning around causing him to get told off by his math teacher. Which in retrospect he was grateful for as it did distract him for at least 5 minutes.

As soon as the bell rang, he threw his bag over his shoulder, and ran out the door. He made it halfway down the hallway when he heard Hinata’s voice: “Kageyama, wait!”

“Not now, Hinata,” he yelled over his shoulder. “I have somewhere to be.”

He resumed his sprint down the stairs, across the schoolyard, past the gate, then left. He made it all the way to Ukai’s shop when-

“Kageyama!”

“Coach,” Kageyama tried his hardest to even out his breathing as he walked up to Ukai.

“I gotta say I’m surprised to see you here so early. I thought Hinata and you would at least try to break into the gym to get some extra practice. But I guess I was wrong. Seems that my speech on the importance of your studies did actually resonate with you.”

Kageyama had no idea what the man was talking about; probably the meeting a few days ago. He really had to stop zoning out whenever people were talking about something other than volleyball.

“I won’t hold you back any longer. Study hard, Kageyama. Don’t forget about our little party after your final exams.”

Kageyama nodded. He judged it unwise to inform his coach that he was actually on his way to play volleyball. He waved goodbye, adjusted his backpack, and rushed down the street to where Oikawa was already waiting.

The older boy looked up as Kageyama sat down next to him trying his best not to breathe too hard.

“Oi Tobio, don’t think I’ll go easy on you just because you’re a bit tired.”

As a response Kageyama grabbed the volleyball Oikawa was balancing on two fingers. “I wouldn’t want you to.”

Oikawa chuckled, “let’s go.”

The local park had a volleyball field. Technically it was just a patch of grass with an old crooked net. It wasn’t much but considering neither of the two boys had access to anything better they made do with what they had.

Playing volleyball with Oikawa was not exactly nice. Neither would Kageyama use adjectives such as enjoyable or pleasant to describe the time he spent with the other boy. It was laborious and draining. Oikawa was demanding, but not in the way Hinata was. Where Hinata wanted to repeat the exact same move over and over again until he got it right, Oikawa would insist they try out every possible alternative of one move to make sure it would work out under any circumstances.

Kageyama would describe himself as persevering. All the times he and Hinata got kicked out of the gym because they stayed too long after practice were proof enough of it. However, what was driving Oikawa was of another nature. Kageyama remembered it for middle school: the older boy drenched in sweat, his hands twitching, his knees trembling from the tireless hours of additional practice. In those times, the only thing keeping him from falling into unconsciousness was spite. Kageyama’s hard-working nature often drove him to do more than what was expected of him. This however was no match for the stubbornness that flowed through Oikawa’s veins.

In the past three days, Kageyama had wished on multiple occasion that he had rejected the other boy’s proposal to practice with him. At the end of their practice, sitting on the ground trying—key word here being _trying_ —to catch his breath, Kageyama swung between a feeling of agony and complete numbness. But as Oikawa offered him a hand to help him stand up, Kageyama took it gratefully. Back on his feet, as he was met with one of Oikawa’s rare genuine smiles, he couldn’t help but want to do it all over again.

Playing volleyball with Oikawa was pure hell, but god knows Kageyama freaking loved it, and he had a feeling Oikawa did too.

🏐🏐🏐

“What do you think?” Kageyama asked.

“I don’t know. You tell me.”

“Isn’t it obvious? It’s volleyball. We both like volleyball. I can’t believe you didn’t get that immediately, dumbass.”

Hinata stared at the taller boy in disbelief. “Yeah how stupid of me. How did I not see that coming from the _very_ beginning?” Hinata said, sarcasm heavy in his voice.

“You aren’t as observant as you like to believe after all,” Kageyama smirked.

Whatever insults Hinata was formulating in his mind, he kept them to himself. He would take this out on Kageyama on another occasion but right now he was too curious to see how the situation would develop to anger the other boy into completely dropping their ‘research.’

“Volleyball it is then,” Hinata confirmed. “You can put a checkmark.”

“Is just volleyball really enough?” Kageyama said the pen hovering over the paper. “Most people we know like volleyball. That doesn’t mean we’re dating all of them.”

“I guess you’re right.” Hinata acknowledged. “There has to be something else you both like. What do you talk about when you hang out?”

“I’m not sure–“

“Is it because you’re too busy doing other things?” Hinata teased.

“NO! Stop insinuating things.” Kageyama cheeks grew bright red. “Don’t you think I’d know we were dating if we did”—he hesitates—“those kinds of things?”

“Your right. Even you would notice someone else’s tongue in your mouth.”

Kageyama looked mortified. Hinata felt a little guilty, but just a tiny little bit. He was having way too much fun embarrassing his friend.

“If you’re not otherwise preoccupied, then what do you talk about?”

🏐🏐🏐

“Do you want ice-cream?”

“It’s almost dinnertime.”

“And?”

“Well, I won’t be hungry if I eat ice-cream right before dinner.”

“Your point is?”

Kageyama looked at Oikawa in utter confusion. “I don’t get what–”

“It’s okay. I’m just teasing;” Oikawa offered as explanation.

They had played volleyball for over an hour before deciding to call it quits as it was getting too dark. Kageyama cursed the gods above for the bad daylight distribution in Japan.

“I was serious about the ice-cream though,” the older boy clarified.

Kageyama gave no response.

“I’ll pay,” Oikawa offered.

Still nothing from the younger boy.

“Don’t be like that, Tobio. Do something crazy for once. I can’t believe I’m referring to eating ice-cream as ‘something crazy,’” he air-quoted. “I promise I won’t tell.”

Later Kageyama wasn’t quite sure anymore how they ended up at the convenient store, but as a matter of fact they did. They stood in front of the ice box examining the ice-cream selection.

“Choose whichever you want,” Oikawa said opening the ice box.

“I always take the same one so it’s not really choosing.”

“Same, there’s no reason to change a winning team.”

“Mango,” They said in unison reaching for the same ice-cream cone.

“You like mango?” Kageyama asked.

“Obviously, mango is the superior flavour,” Oikawa affirmed. “I didn’t think you’d have such a good taste in ice-cream. Hajime always takes vanilla. Vanilla, Tobio. How boring is that?”

After Oikawa had paid for the ice-cream, they sat down in front of the shop. As they ate, he talked animatedly about something Kageyama could not quite keep up with. Not that the younger boy didn’t try—it was only polite to listen to someone after they bought you ice-cream—but the words that came out of his mouth just did not resonate with him.

“…And that’s why the new _Alien_ movies just aren’t as good as the old ones.”

“I’m sorry, but what?”

“Haven’t you seen any of the _Alien_ movies?”

“I’ve seen E.T. once. I think.”

“That’s a disgrace, Tobio. You have to educate yourself. Those are classics.”

Kageyama was not sure what to answer to that. He felt foolish like back in his first year of middle school when Oikawa had told him that he would _never_ teach him his serve. He felt the muscle of his shoulders tense up.

“I guess I’ll have to show you. Yet, another thing your great senpai can teach you.” The tension in his body eased down as Oikawa placed his hand on his shoulder.

The older boy removed his hand to fold the ice-cream wrapper, leaving a cold spot on Kageyama’s shoulder.

“Anyway, Tobio what’s your favourite movie?”

“I don’t really watch movies,” Kageyama answered.

“I don’t believe that. Everyone watches movies.”

“I suppose they do. It’s just been a while since I’ve seen one,” he paused.

The expression on Oikawa’s face was encouraging. The opposite of the judgement Kageyama has expected to find there.

“I used to watch a lot of Ghibli movies with my mum when I was little,” he tried hesitantly.

“Ghibli movies are great! The animation is so cute!” Oikawa exclaimed. “Which one’s your favourite?”

Taken aback by the other boy’s enthusiasm, it took Kageyama a second to remember any title of the Ghibli movie, let alone his favourite.

“ _Princess Mononoke_.”

“That’s a great one, but I prefer _Howl's Moving Castle_. And don’t forget _Kiki's Delivery Service_ that one’s just too cute.”

It turns out that Oikawa knew a lot about Ghibli movies and was ready to listen to anything Kageyama had to say about them.

🏐🏐🏐

“If you’re not otherwise preoccupied, then what do you talk about?”

Kageyama thought about the question for a second. “Movies. He likes movies.”

“That’s nice. Do you like movies?” Hinata said hesitantly.

“I guess so.”

“You’re not at all being helpful, dumbass.”

“Calling me a dumbass is not going to help.” Kageyama retorted.

They awkwardly stared at the wall for a few seconds.

“I once told him I like Ghibli movies. He said they were cute.” Kageyama offered still looking straight ahead.

“He’s right. They are super cute. I watch them with Natsu all the time. She loves them.” Kageyama gave him a side-eye. “That’s not to say that those are only children’s movies. Anyone can enjoy them.”

“I know that, dumbass.”

“I thought calling each other ‘dumbass’ was not going to help.”

“You were really being one though.”

They went back to awkwardly staring at the wall. Both unsure what to say next.

“We both like mango ice-cream.”

“That’s random but I guess it counts.”

“Counts for what?”

“The list, dumbass.”

Kageyama opened his mouth to protest but Hinata chimed in with a “it’s okay to call you a dumbass if you’re really being one.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“We could call that the dumbass rule.”

“I was talking about the checkmark not the insulting each other, idiot.” Kageyama added as he put a checkmark next to _2\. liking the same things._

“I still think it’s a good idea.” Hinata tried.

“No.”

“Are you sure? I mean–“

“Can you just go back to reading?”

Hinata could have kept arguing with the other boy but curiosity drove him back to his laptop.

“Number 3:”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> All kudos and comments are appreciated!
> 
> See you soon(ish) for the next chapter!


	4. you text Oikawa Tooru all the time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the text message au no one asked for

“Number 3: ‘you text them all the time. Communication is key! This is lesson number one when it comes to relationships. This concept translates into texting in the 21stcentury. The older generations like to bash on modern technology and the lack of face to face communication the _youth_ is getting these days. (Ok Boomer!) We’re here to remind you that digital communication is valid and so are online relationships. What matters is communication not the _means_ of communication. So, get back to your phone and send those memes! And maybe, just maybe, that heart emoji you got from _that_ friend is more than just platonic,” as Hinata read Kageyama wrote _3\. Texting_ on the notebook.

“You’ve been on your phone more often lately.” Hinata observed.

“Have not.” Kageyama denied.

“You totally have. For the last few days I’ve been trying to talk to you at lunch, but you just kept smiling at your phone,” Hinata complained.

“You’re just mad because you’re not part of a secret group chat.”

“First of all, I could be part of a secret group chat but I would never tell you because it’s secret. And second–”

“As if you could keep a secret, idiot.” Kageyama interrupted.

“Did your mum not teach you that it’s rude to interrupt people?” before Kageyama could say something Hinata continued, “Actually don’t answer that. As I was saying. Secondly, it’s hardly a _secret_ group chat when everyone knows about it, dumbass.”

“You only know about it because you stole my phone when you saw I had a text from Akaashi.”

“If you didn’t want people to look through your phone you should have used a passcode,” Hinata countered.

“Well I have one now.”

“And, I know I’ve said this before, but I’d like to make it very clear that any secret group chat I might or might not be part of would have a better name than ‘setter squad.’” Hinata crossed his arm over his chest.

“It’s fitting. We are all setters after all.”

“Just because it’s accurate does not mean it’s interesting.”

“You’re just jealous because I get more news from the Tokyo teams than you do.” Kageyama retorted.

“That’s not true.”

“Is too.”

Hinata took a deep breath, “Can we focus on what’s important here: Do you text the Grand King or not?”

🏐🏐🏐

Kageyama was not the best student. Actually, the opposite was the case. He was prone to forget his homework and zone out. Usually he managed to conceal this lack of seriousness, but not on that day. On that day he was way too tired to care.

He had fallen asleep halfway through his double period of English; which resulted in a rough wakeup call form his teacher, at least 5 minutes of getting screamed at in a language he did not understand, and a punishment. To the rest of the class’ delight all the post-class chores had been transferred to Kageyama.

Class had ended 10 minutes ago, but Kaeyama was still in the classroom. Only difference being that he now held a broom in his hands.

“You’re an idiot, Kageyama,” he told the broomstick. Yet, the broomstick stayed unimpressed and did not offer any words of comfort.

Kageyama did not completely miss the irony of the situation. He had fallen asleep because he was tired from the practice with Oikawa. And now he could not go to said practice because he had fallen asleep. For the second time that week, he cursed the Japanese educational system. They not only forced them to learn useless stuff, but they also made them come to class at an ungodly hour.

It took him 20 minutes to get everything done, things that when distributed between 4 students– as it usually was—only took 5 minutes, or maybe 15 minutes by himself if he wasn’t so damn tired. He would never make it to his and Oikawa’s meeting spot before the older boy would get bored and leave. Hell, he had probably already left. Nevertheless, Kageyama hurried out of the school, but only ran half-heartedly having given up any hope to see Oikawa that day.

To his surprise, as he arrived at their meeting spot, Oikawa was there.

“You’re late.” Oikawa noted.

“You waited?”

“Of course, I waited. You said you’d come. I couldn’t leave. What if you got kidnaped?”

“What would you have done if I got kidnaped?” Kageyama asked genuinely curious.

“Celebrated, obviously,” Oikawa answered without missing a beat. As he saw Kageyama’s concerned face he added, “don’t worry I’m just kidding. What would I do without my favourite kohai? Anyway, what happened?”

“I fell asleep during English class. As a punishment I had to do all the chores.”

“That’s rough,” the older boy consoled. “Maybe you should go home and get a good night’s sleep.”

“No! I can practice.”

“Don’t make me be the mum friend. That’s Hajime’s role.” Oikawa whined.

“I swear I can practice. I’m only a little tired,” Kageyama only half managed to hind his yawn.

“You’re literally falling asleep right now. And you would be even more tired tomorrow”

“Am not.” Kageyama retorted unconvincingly. “And it wouldn’t matter since tomorrow’s Saturday.”

“Exactly. Now hand me your phone,” Oikawa extended his hand.

“What for?”

“You’re not pretty enough to be that stupid, Tobi.” The older boy took the phone out of Kageyama’s hand.

Kageyama seemed worried, unsure what Oikawa was planning.

“I won’t do anything bad. I promise,” he added when saw the concern on the younger boy’s face. “And even if I tried, I could not.”

“Why is that?”

Oikawa gave him the phone back, “passcode?”

Kageyma took his phone back, entered the passcode, and reluctantly handed it to Oikawa. The older boy typed something, locked the phone, and–

“Catch!” Kageyama awkwardly caught his phone. As he looked up again Oikawa was already leaving.

“See you tomorrow, Tobio,” he said without turning around.

“When? Where?” Kageyama asked perplexed.

“You’ll know,” Oikawa replied not answering the questions.

“How?” he tried again, but the other boy had already taken a turn into another street, leaving Kageyama in utter confusion.

🏐🏐🏐

“Do you text the Grand King or not?” Hinata asked.

“He gave me his number two weeks ago so we could organise our practices.” Kageyama answered.

“Now that’s too predictable.” Hinata remarked disappointed of the lack of information his friend was providing. “There has to be something else. Show me your phone.”

“Keep your filthy hands away from my phone.” Kageyama said before the other boy could grab the phone that was lying next to him on the best. “What’s on there is none of your business.”

“So there is something else.” Hinata pressed his hair flat into his head. “Oikawa senpai, will you please tell me when our next date will be?” he said in a high-pitched voice.

“What was that supposed to be?” Kageyama asked.

“You, obviously.”

“I sound nothing like that.” Kageyama retorted offended.

“Well if you showed me your phone, I wouldn’t have to make things up.” Hinata offered apologetically. “I swear I won’t laugh. No matter how embarrassing it gets.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, dumbass.”

There were a few minutes of silence before Kageyama gave Hinata his phone. The other boy closed his laptop before taking the phone.

“The passcode?” Hinata handed the phone back to its owner after failing to unlock it.

Kageyama entered the passcode trying hard to keep the information from Hinata’s praying eyes.

“There you go.”

“Oh yeah! I present a dramatic reading of the convos between Kageyama and his boyfriend. Read by Hinata Shouyou.” Hinata declares overly excited.

“Don’t make me take the phone.”

“Ok ok, I’ll stop.” Hinata pressed the phone against his chest not wanting to lose the phone-privileges he had gained just a moment ago.

“You better.” Kageyma threatened.

“Let’s see what we have.” Hinata clicked on the chat with Oikawa and scrolled all the way up. “’That’s Tobio’s phone’” he read the first text. “Why would you text him that?”

“He obviously sent that message to himself, idiot.”

Hinata decided to ignore that comment and started reading.

🏐🏐🏐

[To Best Senpai Ever]  
>>that’s tobio’s phone

[From Best Senpai Ever]  
>>Yes Yes it is me  
>>your fav senpai

[Contact name changed to Oikawa]

[To Oikawa]  
>>hi Suga senpai  
>>I didn’t know you got a new number

[From Oikawa]  
>>No!  
>>no no no  
>>it’s me Tooru

[To Oikawa]  
>>I thought it was my favourite senpai

[From Oikawa]  
>>yes that’s me

[To Oikawa]  
>>no it isn’t

[From Oikawa]  
>>yes it is

[To Oikawa]  
>>no it isn’t

[From Oikawa]  
>>yes it is

[To Oikawa]  
>>No it isn’t

[From Oikawa]  
>>rude  
>>well if you’re going be like that I won’t tell you why I got your number

[To Oikawa]  
>>not sure I want to know anyway

[From Oikawa]  
>>you’re way meaner via text  
>>too bad bc what I was going to say involved volleyball

[To Oikawa]  
>>please tell

[From Oikawa]  
>>no you’re being rude you don’t deserve to know

[To Oikawa]  
>>if I say I’m sorry will you tell me?

[From Oikawa]  
>>maybe

[To Oikawa]  
>>I’m sorry

>>Oikawa??

>>you said you’d tell me

[From Oikawa]  
>>I said maybe

[To Oikawa]  
>>now you’re being rude

[From Oikawa]  
>>maybe so

>>Tobio?  
>>come back I’ll tell you

[To Oikawa]  
>>go on

[From Oikawa]  
>>I was thinking  
>>you and me  
>>volleyball tomorrow morning

[To Oikawa]  
>>sounds good  
>>when? Where?

[From Oikawa]  
>>10??  
>>same place as always

[To Oikawa]  
>>works for me

[From Oikawa]  
>>great  
>>can’t wait  
>>I’ll play you to the ground tomorrow

[To Oikawa]  
>>you wish  
>>see you tomorrow

🏐🏐🏐

“This is weird,” Hinata comments after reading through the messages.

“What’s weird?”

“You actually know how to reply to messages. Wouldn’t have assumed that. From the way you text me, I would have thought that you’re illiterate.” Hinata pointed out.

“Maybe I just don’t want to text you.” Kageyama retorted.

“Illiterate and rude.”

The shorter boy turned back to the phone and scrolled through a few texts of _you free tomorrow?_ and _got held back by my math teacher be there in 10._ He stopped when he reached one of the many pictures Oikawa had sent Kageyama in the past weeks. He laughed.

“What’s so funny?” The other boy asked.

“That meme,” Hinata shoved the phone into his friend’s face. On the screen an anime character pointed at a butterfly. Over the character there was text saying _coach,_ over the butterfly it said _making the team run aimlessly for an hour_. At the bottom of the image there was a line of text stating _is this great coaching?_

“I don’t get it.” Kageyama said.

Hinata scrolled further. “What about this one?” He asked showing Kageyama another picture.

The picture consisted of two pictures and on top of each a description. The first picture showed a volleyball team in a very bad defence formation. The description over it stated _the opposite team._ The second picture was intitled _me_ and showed a man with a smug look. At the bottom of that second picture it said _real free estate._

Kageyma frowned in confusion.

“You can’t be serious. That’s a classic.” Hinata scrolled even further. “This one! You have to get that one.”

Hinata proceeded to show Kageyama numerous pictures. One of them showed the pointy nosed character form a children’s cartoon seemingly making a presentation. On another two women shouting at a cat. And on yet another, a man in an orange jacket seemed displeased and then very happy about something.

Hinata grew more and more frustrated from the other boy’s lack of understanding. He tried to explain, but in vain.

“This is hopeless. Your meme game is really weak. I don’t know why the Grand King even bothers with you. If anything, the fact that he does is proof enough that he likes you.”

“You think so?” Kageyama asked genuinely curious.

“Either that or he’s not as smart as he looks.”

Kageyama seemed unsatisfied with that answer, “keep reading.”

Hinata scrolled further until he reached the text the two boys had exchange the previous day.

🏐🏐🏐

[From Oikawa]  
>>I’m at the most boring place ever  
>>please save me

[To Oikawa]  
>>???

[From Oikawa]  
>>I ask for your help  
>>and all you got to say is ??????

[To Oikawa]  
>>where are you?

[From Oikawa]  
>>at Hajime’s

[To Oikawa]  
>>???

[From Oikawa]  
>>can you stop with the ???

[To Oikawa]  
>>why is Iwaizumi’s the most boring place ever?

[From Oikawa]  
>>he’s studying  
>>and most importantly he wants me to study too

[To Oikawa]  
>>this is stupid I’m gonna ignore you

[From Oikawa]  
>>don’t ignore me

>>Tobio!!

>>please?

[To Oikawa]  
>>what do you want?

[From Oikawa]  
>>entertain me

[To Oikawa]  
>>how?

[From Oikawa]  
>>I don’t know  
>>be creative

[To Oikawa]  
>>have I ever told you about the first training camp in Tokyo?

[From Oikawa]  
>>I don’t think so  
>>what happened

[To Oikawa]  
>>well it all started when Takeda sensei told us the news  
.  
.  
.

🏐🏐🏐

“I can’t believe you told him about my bad grades?” Hinata was visibly offended.

“It’s not like it’s a secret. Everyone knows that you have bad grades,” Kageyama dismissed.

“At Karasuno maybe, but that’s no reason to let everyone else know about it, too!” Hinata locked the phone and handed it back to its owner.

There was a moment of silence where neither of the two boys knew what to say.

“I also told him about my bad grades,” Kageyama offered as an apology.

“You did. And you can tell him that they’re even worse than mine.” Hinata half joked.

“That’s not true.” Kageyama countered.

“It will be after our finals. While you been off doing God knows what with your boyfriend I actually tried to study.”

“His not my boy–“

“Speaking of boyfriend, I think you can add a checkmark next to point 3.” Hinata pointed at the notebook.

“I guess you’re right.” Kageyama drew a v shape next to _3\. Texting._

“That’s a 100% so far.” Hinata noted.

“True.”

“We’re only at point 3 though.”

“Also, true. I guess we’ll have to read the rest to figure it out.” Kageyama encouraged the other boy to get back to the article.

Hinata opened his laptop again and went back to the article. “Number 4:”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter. For some reason it was a lot harder to write than the previous ones.
> 
> The next chapter will be up probably in a little more that a week as I'll be in Paris next weekend. 
> 
> ^-^


	5. you know Oikawa Tooru’s friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which friends are met and awkward conversations are had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. 
> 
> As a compensation you get a longer chapter (she said as if she had any influence on how long the chapters are hahah)
> 
> I've changed the rating to T bc of the innuendos in this chapter (sorry about that)

“Number 4: ‘you know each other’s friends.’” Hinata read the next point of the article.

“What does knowing someone’s friends have to do you with you dating them?” Kageyama asked.

“Maybe if you let me finish, you’d know.” Hinata replied. To that Kageyama had nothing to add, but to write _4 knowing each other’s friends_ at the bottom of the list.

“’Dating someone is a big deal, especially if you’ve never dated anyone before. That person becomes a constant addition to your life. You’ll find that they slowly work their way into all aspects of your life. People always mark _meeting the parents_ as the one big step in a relationship, but there is another milestone that many fail to mention: Getting to know their friends (if you’re not dating someone from your friend group that is.) Our queens the Spice Girls once said ‘if you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends’ and they were right. A significant other has to fit into your life and therefore with your friends. If they get along with your friends and you with theirs you might as well be the perfect match.’”

Hinata took a few second to breath. “I guess that’s our first miss.”

“Why is that?” Kageyama asked.

“Well, I haven’t met him.” Hinata noted.

“You have, 3 times now.” Kageyama corrected him.

“That’s not a real meeting. I said like two words to him. And you didn’t even introduce him.” Hinata complained.

“Why would I introduce him? You know who he is.”

“True but it would be nice.” Hinata remarked. “He’s really cool and really good at volleyball. Do you think he’d want to be my friend?”

“I don’t think so. I kind of don’t want to either right now.”

“Rude!” The shorter boy crossed his arms over his chest. “Have you met his friends?”

“I went to middle school with Oikawa and Iwaizumi. So, yeah.” Kageyama answered.

“It’s been years. That does not count.” Hinata countered. “What about the other third years. Have you met them recently?”

🏐🏐🏐

The day after Oikawa had gotten – or rather taken – Kageyama’s phone number, the two boys met up to play volleyball. Kageyama showed up at their meeting spot five minutes before the established time, yet the older boy was already waiting for him.

“You’re early,” Kageyama noted as a greeting.

“Can’t have you be here earlier than I am. How could I live with myself knowing that my favourite kohai had to wait outside in the cold all because of me?” Oikawa ruffled the other boy’s hair. “Come on, we got lots to do before I have to face Hajime and his hellish study plan.”

After three hours of running, passing, diving and blocking, Oikawa and Kageyama packed up and left the park. They walked in silence for a bit before reaching a bus stop.

“My bus is in–” Oikawa checked his phone– “10 minutes. I guess I’ll see you soon.”

Oikawa sat down on the bench next to the bus stop. He looked up in surprise as Kageyama took the spot next to him. “You don’t have to wait with me.”

“It’s fine. I’m not in a hurry. When I get home, I have to do homework.”

“Avoiding your responsibilities. And I thought you were a serious person. How are you going to take my spot on the top of the high-school volleyball world if you keep procrastinating?” Oikawa laughed.

“I’m just bad at math. That’s all,” the younger boy admitted.

“Oh, don’t worry about it.” Oikawa patted Kageyama’s knee. “Lucky for you, your magnificent senpai is great at math. I’ll help you. Your grades will skyrocket”

“I highly doubt that.”

The two boys laughed. There was something comfortable in this, Kageyama thought. Sitting there dumbly smiling at each other felt awfully right for some reason.

However, the moment was cut short.Oikawa’s eyes widened as he saw something Kageyama could not make out. The younger boy tried to turn around to set an end to his confusion, but before he could do so he was held back. With one hand on Kageyama’s shoulder Oikawa pulled the other boy closer. Kageyama was taken aback, surprised by how close Oikawa was to him now. He couldn’t help but notice the patch of gold in Oikawa’s otherwise brown eyes.

“Don’t tell them about volleyball,” Oikawa whispered so quietly that Kageyama almost missed it.

“What–”

“Oikawa!” a voice called out from behind Kageyama. The next thing Kageyama knew someone sat down next to him and a second person sat down on Oikawa’s side of bench. The additional two bodies caused Kageyama and Oikawa to be pressed against each other’s side.

It took Kageyama a few seconds to take in what just happened: Next to him now sat one of Aobajohsai’s third year, Matsukawa Issei Seijoh’s number 2, and next two Oikawa sat the other, Hanamaki TakahiroSeijoh’s number 3.

“A bus-stop?” the boy sitting next to Kageyma said. “Not very romantic.”

“Oikawa you’re so rude.” The dark-haired boy added leaning onto his captain and thereby pressing Oikawa further into Kageyama. “Aren’t you going to introduce us to you boyfr–”

“You’ve met before.” Oikawa shoved his team-mate off of him.

“We did, but then there was a net between us. And now you two are on the same side of the net.” Hanamaki leaned forward to look at Oikawa.

“Now you’re on the same team,” Matsukawa added.

“You wear the same jersey,” the other countered.

“You play the same game.”

“You sit on the same bench,” Hanamaki noted.

“That’s a good one.” Matsukawa grinned. “You hit the same ball.”

There was a moment of silence in their chaotic exchange. Kageyama managed to get a quick look at Oikawa. To his surprise the older boy’s cheek had turned a deep pink colour.

“Too much?” Matsukawa questioned.

“Not enough if you ask me.” Hanamaki pointed at Oikawa. “Oi captain, you better get your knee pads in case you get, you know, down to business.”

Violent laughter erupted from Oikawa’s team-mates. Their captain however looked extremely uncomfortable. Kageyama could not wrap his head around the situation. He was used to Iwaizumi poking fun at his best friend, putting Oikawa back in his place when he got a little too carried away. Yet this situation was nothing like that. So unlike what Kageyama was used to from the Seijoh games and Oikawa overall, now Matsukawa and Hanamaki were in complete control of the situation, leaving Oikawa at their mercy.

“Okay, okay. That’s enough,” Oikawa finally spoke up. His cheek no longer pink but rather bright red. “Tobio this is Matsukawa Issei Seijoh’s number 2, and Hanamaki TakahiroSeijoh’s number 3. Matsu, Maki, this is Kageyama Tobio.”

“That wasn’t so hard now,was it?” Matsukawa patted Oikawa shoulder.

“You’re lucky, cap. Had you kept being rude we would have had to report you to mum,” Hanamaki said with a smug look.

“Speaking of mum, where is he?” The dark-haired boy turned his question to Oikawa.

“Studying,” Oikawa answered. “I have to join him this afternoon.”

Hanamaki reached over Kageyama’s lap to place his hand on Oikawa’s knee. “You’re a brave man, Oikawa.”

“Taking one for the team. We’ll be forever grateful for your sacrifices.”

This time all three of the boys laughed. There was something natural about it. The inside joke had softened Oikawa featured. This was a real laugh, one of those few ones when he did let everything go, no longer caring how he was perceived. Kageyama for some reason could not explain why he felt drawn to this side of Oikawa. Beyond the wall of arrogance that the older boy had built around himself laid a vulnerable teenager.

Hanamaki then directed his attention to Kageyama putting his arm around the younger boy’s shoulders. “You’re lucky you’re at Karasuno, volleyball prodigy. Seijo isn’t fun right now. Iwaizumi is stressed about College entrance exams. And if Iwaizumi is stressed, he makes sure we all suffer with him.”

“Man, can you have a little talk with your headmaster, and ask him if we can transfer before Monday? Now that you two–” Matsukawa gesticulated between Kageyama and Oikawa– “are a thing. Should be doable right?”

“This is enough.” Oikawa checked his phone. “My bus is in two minutes. You two can leave now. I don’t want you to harass poor Tobio after I’m gone.”

“No worries, cap. We’ll leave you two alone to _say_ your goodbyes. Have fun.” Hanamaki winked at Kageyama as he stood up.

“Not too much fun, though.” Matsukawa laughed waving goodbye.

Kageyama stared after the two boys as they left still trying to make sense of what just happened. “They are a lot.”

“They’re the worst. Next time you see them, run for your life.”

“I might just do that.”

🏐🏐🏐

“What about the other third years? Have you met them recently?” Hinata asked.

“I have actually,” the other boy answered.

“What are they like? I hope you didn’t make a fool of yourself.”

“Just because you’re an absolute mess that should not be let out in public does not mean we all are.” Kageyma exaggerated.

“So, did you or did you not make a fool of yourself?” Hinata gave Kageyama a knowing look.

“It was rather weird.” Kageyama admitted reluctantly.

“I knew it.” Hinata was very happy with himself. “You’re just as bad as I am.”

“Now that’s a stretch. You’re way worse than I am. It wasn’t that bad.” Kageyama thought about it for a second “At least I think it wasn’t.”

Hinata was dying to know more about the meeting with the Aobajohsai third years, but he knew that exposing his friend like that wasn’t smart. He would have to wait and try to get the information from another source.

Kageyama added a checkmark next to the fourth point.

“No, you can’t do that,” Hinata interjected.

“Why not?”

“I’ve already said that I haven’t really met him,” Hinata pointed out.

“You haven’t, but others have.” Kageyama avoided Hinata’s eyes knowing very well that the other boy would not be amused that he did not tell him about that incident earlier.

“What?” Hinata exclaimed. “This is not fair! I didn’t get to meet him.”

“You were sick,” Kageyama answered matter-of-factly.

“I can’t believe this! Of course, the only interesting thing in weeks happens when I’m sick.” Hinata seemed truly mad. “Who was there?”

“Well, one time at school there was Sugawara, Tanaka and Nishinoya.” Kageyama counted it down on his fingers. “And then there was–”

“Tanaka and Nishinoya!” Hinata interrupted. “They didn’t tell me. Why would they keep it secret?”

 _Why?_ Kageyama thought. The captain of Seijo showing up at Karasuno was a big deal. _Why did they keep it to themselves?_

“Suga,” Kageyama answered more to his own thoughts than to Hinata’s question.

Hinata gave the taller boy a questioning look.

“Suga probably told them to keep it to themselves,” Kageyama explained.

Hinata looked truly concerned.

“What’s the matter, idiot? You look constipated.”

“I just thought about the conversation Suga must have had with them.” Hinata’s look of worry turned into a look of fear.

“Oh no.” Kageyama felt a shiver down his spine at the bare thought of Sugawara raising his voice. “That’s terrifying.”

“I know right.” Hinata shook his head to get rid of the tension that had built up in his neck. “Anyway, how’d that meeting go? Must have been super awkward.”

🏐🏐🏐

School on Monday after the run-in with Hanamaki and Matsukawa had been extremely uneventful. The morning classes went by smoothly. Probably because there were two presentations during the Japanese class during which Kageyama could get away with just staring out the window. With Hinata missing—according to Yachi he was sick—Kageyama found that lunch could in fact be quite refreshing. He even managed to take a quick nap. Afternoon classes turned out to be a lot easier to get through after an actually relaxing break.

After the bell rang Kageyama left the school building feeling content. He had made it through a full day without any major inconvenience. Something that hardly even happened considering he spent most of his time here with Hinata by his side. Now he just had a five-minute walk before meeting with Oikawa and they would play some volleyball. This was a very successful day, Kageyama thought.

In retrospect—as Kageyama realised later that evening—it had all been way too good to be true anyway and he should have expected that something unpleasant was heading right his way.

That something came in the shape of Oikawa waiting at the entry gate of Karasuno.

Kageyama saw him from halfway across the schoolyard. It was an awkward sight. Oikawa looked ridiculously out of place. Kageyama almost laughed, but then the realisation hit him: He could not let anyone for the volleyball team see Oikawa, or even worse him with Oikawa.

He could not let that happen. If he had learned anything this year it was that team building was the most important aspect of a team sport. He was pretty sure that hanging out with the enemy, even worse practicing with them, did not improve one’s relation to their team-mates. He needed to leave right now, and he needed Oikawa to leave with him.

Kageyama started walking faster. He could make it. He was nearly there. A few more steps and when they would leave, no one would know that he was there in the first place. Just a few more—

“Kageyama, wait!”

Kageyama stopped abruptly. This was bad.

He turned around trying his best to look natural and not completely stressed out.

“Suga, can it wait? I’m in a hurry.” Kageyama had to get away from there. He was ready to break into a sprint, grab Oikawa and get the hell out of here.

“It’ll just take a second. I’ve been trying to give this back for a week now.” Suga took off his bag, reached for the zipper and–

“Tobio!” Oikawa had crossed the few meters between the gate and where Kageyama and Suga were standing.

Things just went from bad to worse.

“Well if it isn’t my favourite Karasuno player?” Kageyama rolled his eyes. He should have expected this. Complimentingsomeone else in order to shade Kageyama was passive aggressive enough to fit right Oikawa’s personality.

“Isn’t that right, Tobio?” Oikawa put an arm around Kageyama’s shoulder.

_What?_

“Oh, and Sugawara. Fancy seeing you here.”

Kageyama blinked a few times. _What was going on?_

“Oikawa? What are you doing here?” Suga asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Oikawa tightened his grip around Kageyama shoulder pressing the younger boy further into his side.

Kageyama felt uneasy. Whatever was about to happen would not end well. The way in which Suga and Oikawa smiled at each other overly politely triggered Kageyama’s flight-or-fight response. With the way Oikawa was holding on to him right now flight was not an option. So, Kageyama settled for the next best thing.

“Suga, you wanted to give me something?” Kageyama said suddenly very intressted in the content of his team-mate’s backpack.

“Oh yeah.” Suga reached into his bag. “Thanks again for landing me this. Pretty dumb of me to forget my jacket to go to nationals.” He took out a nicely folded black tracksuit jacket. “My mum washed it.”

Before Kageyama could reach for his jacket, Oikawa yanked it out of Suga’s hands.

“You’re too nice, Tobio. Taking good care of your team-mates.” Oikawa ran his hand through the younger boy’s hair. “I’m so proud of you.”

Suga looked as confused as Kageyama felt. The confusion turned into bewilderment as Oikawa opened the jacker’s zipper, put one arm through the first sleeve then the other.

Oikawa adjusted the collar. “Black suits me, right Tobio?”

There were a few seconds of silence in which Oikawa and Suga both looked at Kageyama expectantly. Kageyama gazed between the two boys. He had no idea what to say.

“Suga! Kageyama!” Two voices called out. Kageyama felt a wave ofrelief wash through him. This was, however, very short lived, as when he turned to see who had called, he was met with the angry looks of Tanaka and Nishinoya.

The two second years started jabbering and gesticulating widely as soon as they reached the other boys. Kageyama tried in vain to understand what was going on. A quick look at Oikawa showed him that the older boy could not make sense out of what was being said either.

“Would you guys please not talk over one another? We can’t understand a word you say.” Suga put an end to the chaos of voices.

“What’s he doing here?” Tanaka crossed his arms over his chest.

“More importantly, why is he wearing that?” Nishinoya shamelessly pointed at Oikawa.

“I’m here to pick up a friend.” Oikawa countered.

“No, you’re not.” Nishinoya protested.

“I bet he stole that jacket.” Tanaka snapped. “Give it back!”

“No!” Kageyama half yelled. Everybody turned to look at him. “He’s here for me, and it’s okay that he has my jacket.”

Oikawa smiled visibly happy with himself. Tanaka and Nishinoya seemed to struggle to make sense of what Kageyama had just said.

Kageyama looked at Suga. His vice-captain gave him a small smile before turning to the second years. “Did you hear that? Don’t you think apologies are in order?”

Tanaka and Nishinoya appeared to go through enormous pain as they uttered a very quiet “sorry” in Oikawa’s general direction.

“You might want to apologize to Kageyama too. You were mean to his friend after all.” Suga added.

“Why do you even hang out with him anyway?” Tanaka questioned.

“What Kageyama does in his free-time is none of your business. He can hang out with whomever he wants.” Suga explained. “He’s your team-mate you have to trust him.”

“Sorry Kageyama,” Nishinoya started.

“We do trust you, but not him.” Tanaka nodded in Oikawa’s direction who was now talking with Suga.

“But I guess if you’re okay with him we are too.” Nishinoya offered.

“We’ll keep an eye on him, thought. We got your back, mate.” Tanaka padded Kageyama’s shoulder before turning to leave.

After his two team-mates had left, Kageyama caught the last few words in the exchange between Oikawa and Suga.

“Do you understand?” Suga asked.

“Do you really think so little of me, Sugawara?”

“I’m giving you a chance to prove me wrong. You better not mess this up.” Realising that Kageyama was not following the conversation, Suga added: “I thought you guys were in a hurry. I won’t hold you off any longer.”

Suga shouldered his backpack before waving goodbye. “See you around.”

“They seem fun.” Oikawa noted as he and Kageyama walked off Karasuno school ground. “We should all play volleyball together at some point.”

“I really don’t think this is a good idea.”

🏐🏐🏐

“Anyway, how’d that meeting go? Must have been super awkward,” Hinata answered his own question.

“He wore my jacket.” Kageyama replied unsure what else he could say.

“Pardon?”

“On the day you were sick, Suga returned my spare jacket I lent him during nationals.”

“Ok, and?” Hinata asked.

“Oikawa took my jacket and put it on.” Kageyama thought about it for a few seconds. “He actually still has it.”

“That’s cute.” Hinata scrolled through the rest of the article.

“What are you doing?” Kageyama asked.

“Just checking.” Hinata reached the bottom of the page. “No, ‘sharing clothes’ is not on the list. You would have gotten a checkmark for that.”

“Why would ‘sharing clothes’ be on that list, anyway?”

“Well, Daichi’s friend Michimiya—from the girls’ volleyball team—is dating a girl from the track team; they switch jackets.” Hinata paused for a second. “Did he ever let you wear the Seijo jacket?”

“No. Why would he?” Kageyama could not wrap his head around the idea of wearing someone else’s clothes when his own were perfectly fine.

“It’s a couple thing.” Hinata explained. “Remember when I visited my cousin in Tokyo?”

“How could I forget you kept going on about it for weeks, idiot.”

“It was fun, and I wanted to share my joy. What’s so bad about it?” Kageyama opened his mouth to reply but Hinata cut him off. “Don’t answer that. Anyway, on the day we went to Disneyland, my cousin and her boyfriend wore matching outfits. It was adorable. And they even had matching Mickey and Minnie ears.”

“So, like a uniform?”

“I guess you could say that, but more fun. A lot of people at Disney dress up in a character theme. You should do that too.” Hinata suggested.

“I don’t think tha–”

“The aliens from _Toy Story_ ,” Hinata interjected, “or Stitch or, what about Winnie the Pooh? My sister loves him–”

“Hinata!” Kageyama interjected in his friend’s enthusiastic tirade. “Could we please get back to the list.” Kageyama held up the notebook.

“You’re right. Sorry, I got a bit too excited about the couple outfits.”

“It’s okay. Let’s get back to the article.” Kageyama adjusted his hold on the pen ready to write the next point.

“WALL-E?”

“Hinata!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter. 
> 
> If anyone cares Paris was super fun. 
> 
> I made a Haikyuu stan twitter so if you want to follow me there fell free to do so.  
> [Link's here](https://twitter.com/oioi_trkw)  
> I'll keep you posted on my pic updates on there. And I might tweet fic recs. Who knows?
> 
> ^-^


	6. you let Oikawa Tooru into your personal space

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which maths is being studied, movies watched ... oh and parents are met

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!!!!TW!!!!!!!!!!!  
> that's also kind of a spoiler I guess
> 
> In this chapter there is a description of the movie Alien which is a little graphic so if you don't feel comfortable reading about that I suggest you skip that paragraph that is marked with a exclamation point (!) at the beginning of the paragraph.
> 
> be safe and have fun reading!

Hinata scrolled back up to where he’d stopped reading.

“Number 5: ‘You let them into your personal space.’” He starts. “’As we’ve already stated in previous points, the person you date finds their way into your private life. They become now part of your private life.’”

Hinata took a look at the notebook where Kageyama had added a _5 private parts_ at the end of the list. He paused.

“What are you waiting for? Keep reading!” Kageyama huffed.

“Do you not see anything wrong with what you just wrote?” Hinata asked.

“Is there a spelling mistake?”

“No that’s not,” Hinata hesitated. “Well I don’t know about the spelling.”

“What is it then?” Kageyama began to get irritated.

“Does it really not sound weird to you?” He paused as Kageyama examined his writing.

“Is there nothing that seems strange?” Kageyama still looked confused.

“Or maybe non-PG-13?”

The information slowly found its way into Kageyama’s consciousness. He started to piece the data together and–

“Oh no!” Kagyama threw the notebook at Hinata, who grabbed it in mid-air. Thank you very much volleyball practice.

“How did you not hear how bad that sounded when you wrote it down?” Hinata handed Kageyama to notebook back. The taller boy took it reluctantly.

“I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking about–” Kageyama held the notebook at arm’s length as if it were contaminated with some nasty disease–“those kind of things.”

“This is not going to help.” Hinata grabbed the notebook out of the other boy’s outstretched hand and threw it onto his lap. “Change it.”

Kageyama looked genuinely disgusted as he crossed out the _5 private parts._

“Since you’re such a fast thinker, what do you propose point five should be called?”

Hinata opened his mouth to give a sassy response because of course he knew a better answer than Kageyama.

Of course, he did. He just had to think about it for a bit.

“Close your mouth you’ll catch flies.”

“I don’t know what to say. You’ve made me scared of words.” Hinata pounded. “Give me this.” He took the notebook out of Kageyama’s hand. “Hand this.” He reached for the pen.

Hinata wrote very carefully as if it were a legally binding contract.

“Here,” Hinata said handing the notebook back.

“’ _5 personal space,’”_ Kageyama read. “Seems fine? Or, does it?”

“If I’m being honest, I don’t know. But that doesn’t matter right now. Let’s carry on.” His friend nodded in approval. “’If meeting their friends is the first important step in a relationship then the second is letting them into your personal space. No one knows the difference between school life and home life better than a teenager. It is completely natural that you’d like to keep those two as far from each other as possible. Overprotective parents and embarrassing siblings can be hard to mix with friends and school. Letting someone into your home is a sign of trust that should not be taken for granted. We know vulnerability is frightening, but it will also help you build a strong relationship. Don’t be scared. Take a deep breath and jump into the cold water. This point might have been a bit too deep so here have this gif of a puppy falling asleep while getting his first haircut.’”

Hinata scrolled down a little. “Aw! Look at how cute that puppy is!”

“It is pretty cute,” Kageyama had to admit as the puppy struggled to stay up straight as sleep was taking over.

“Has the Grand King been to your house?” Hinata asked.

“Yes.”

“It took me nearly a year to have you invite me to your place, yet you just let him into your house like it’s nothing.” Hinata was visibly offended.

“He just helped me with maths. Maybe if you helped me pass my exams, I would invite you over more often.” Kageyama retorted.

“That’s bad logic. Tsukishima helped us with Japanese a few times, but I don’t see you inviting him to your house.” Hinata said accusingly.

“Why would anyone let Tsukishima into their house?”

“Fair enough.” Hinata noted. “Did he meet your mum?”

“He has.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“Stop being so vague, Kageyama. Give me details.” Hinata demanded.

“It was embarrassing.” Kageyama blushed.

“You can’t just say it was embarrassing and then stop talking. What happened?”

🏐🏐🏐

Since Oikawa had shown up at Karasuno two days ago, not much had changed in Kageyama’s day to day life. Tanaka and Nishinoya were their normal over-the-top selves. Maybe they were a bit more hesitant when they saw Kageyama during the morning break but that soon changed as Hinata joined them and started screaming about something he’d seen the previous night on YouTube. Suga gave him knowing looks when they crossed path in the hallway. Which was kind of weird since Kageyama did not know what exactly it was Suga knew.

Kageyama and Hinata sat on the stairs in front of the gym as Yachi joined them for lunch.

Hinata immediately started talking. Yachi seemed overwhelmed by the amount of information that Hinata was pouring out over her. Kageyama didn’t even try to keep up. Opting to daydream about volleyball instead.

“Kageyama!” Hinata dragged him out of his thoughts.

“I was wondering if you’re ready for your maths exam tomorrow?” Yachi asked. “Your classmate, I forgot her name–“

“I have a test tomorrow?” Kageyama interrupted.

“Yeah, she said it was important. Something about it counting for–“

“50 percent of the final grade.” Kageyama stood up abruptly. “I don’t know how to solve an equation. I’ll never pass. This is the end of my volleyball career. Just because I can’t solve an equation.”

Yachi and Hinata stared at their friend in disbelief. Kageyama usually did not display his emotions that openly.

“Yachi!” Kageyama took a step closer to the girl causing her to flinch. “You have to help me.”

“I can’t,” Yachi said apologetically. “I would but Kiyoko gave me concert tickets for my birthday, and that concert is today. I’m very sorry.”

“I can help.” Hinata offered.

“No offense, Hinata.” Yachi turned to the smaller boy. “But I think Kageyama is better off without your help. You’re worse at maths than he is.” She turned back to Kageyama. “I can give you my notes if you want. They’re pretty clear if you pull an all-nighter you might just pass.”

“You’re a life saviour, Yachi.” Kageyama thanked her.

“It’s fine. I won’t need them tonight anyway. I’ll give them to you after class if that’s okay?”

Before they went back to class, Kageyama took out his phone to text Oikawa.

[To Oikawa]  
>>No volleyball tonight  
>>I have to study for my maths exam tomorrow

As he was going to put his phone back into his pocket, he got a response.

[From Oikawa]  
>>Okay see you later :)

Kageyama started typing a _what do you mean later_ but didn’t make it past _what do_ before the bell rang and he had to put his phone away.

After class he collected Yachi’s notes then walked to Ukai’s store with Hinata, Nishinoya and Tanaka. He had enough self-control to not join them into the store and make his way home to drown himself in maths.

Kageyama walked home, the text Oikawa had sent him earlier that day completely forgotten. He walked past their meeting spot without paying the bench Oikawa usually sat on while waiting for him any attention.

He made it a few meters further before–

“Hey, Tobio! Wait!”

Kageyama stopped in his tracks. He turned around to see Oikawa running up to him.

“That’s no way to thank me for sacrificing my free time to teach you maths.” Oikawa kept walking. “Come on we got lots to do.”

“You what?” Kageyama asked.

“Don’t sound so shocked. I’ll have you know I’m great at maths.”

“You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.” Kageyama caught up to the other boy. “You don’t have to do this, Oikawa. I can study on my own.”

“Don’t be stupid now. Save some of it for later.” Oikawa walked ahead. “Come on! It’s time to solve some equations.”

“Wait! You don’t know where I live.”

“That’s why I have you.”

Kageyama couldn’t argue with that logic, and decided it was probably for the best to just follow the older boy.

Kageyama was a little reluctant to let Oikawa into his house. He had gotten used to Oikawa judging his volleyball skills and his personality over the years. The past week and a half of the older boy being encouraging and overall nice to him did not cause Kageyama to let down his guard ~~s~~. Kageyama would be lying if he said that he did not enjoy the attention he was getting from his former captain. He now understood why Seijo was such a strong team. With someone like Oikawa on the forefront, a captain that knew how the bring forth the best in each of his team-mate and make each and every single one of them feel not only important but vital to the team’s victory, Seijo could only bloom. But that did not mean that Oikawa would not just go back to his old ways and take advantage of how open Kageyama has been regarding his personal life.

He was nevertheless glad that his mum worked late on Wednesdays. He really did not need this to be any more awkward than it already was.

“It’s nice.” Oikawa said as he entered after Kageyama.

“My mum did most of it herself. Decorating is kind of a hobby to her, I guess.”

“Well, she has good taste. That’s for sure.” Oikawa looked around the room. His eyes fell on a framed picture that hung on the wall facing the front door. “That’s her, right?” He pointed at the picture.

“Yes, that’s from when we went Sapporo to few years ago.” 

As Kageyama was preoccupied with placing his shoes away, Oikawa kept looking at the other pictures that were displayed around the room.

“Karasuno,” Oikawa said pointing at a picture of the team. “Is that from Nationals?”

“No, that one was taken after we won Interhigh, but there should be one from Nationals somewhere.”

Kageyama turned just in time to see a strange expression on the other boy’s face. _Was that sadness?_

Before Kageyama could make sense of what was going on Oikawa exclaimed: “And that’s little Tobio. You were so cute.” Kageyama tensed in shock. Of course, Oikawa would run right into the baby picture of him and his grandmother.

“It’s not that cute.” The younger boy tried his best to not seem completely embarrassed.

“Are you kidding? You were adorable.” Oikawa hovered a finger over the glass as to poke baby Kageyama’s cheeks.

“We should get started.”

“Oh yeah.”

If letting Oikawa in the front door was stressful to Kageyama, letting him into his room was completely nerve- wracking. Everything he owned was in there. This was his space and right now he was opening the door for Oikawa. A boy who two weeks ago he would not have even considered talking to for more than 5 minutes.

But somehow it also felt exciting. He couldn’t really tell why he felt this way, but he had enjoyed the time he got to spend with the other boy. Maybe it would not be too crazy to assume that they’d become friends, and according to Hinata visiting your friend’s home was just part of friendships. It wasn’t really the same feeling he got when Hinata came over for the first time. But then again, Hinata did not have the presence Oikawa had.

Kageyama walks straight to his desk to avoid witnessing Oikawa’s first reaction to his room. He started unpacking the content of his backpack onto the desk.

“You have all the Percy Jackson books?” Kageyama turned around to see Oikawa looking though his book collection.

“Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve read them, though.”

“Same. I should really re-read them. They’re really good.” Oikawa turned away from the bookshelf to take a seat at the desk.

Kageyama pulled a second chair to the desk and sat down. “Those are the notes.” He handed Oikawa Yachi’s notes. The older boy looked through it.

“Those are great notes. Maybe you’re smarter than you look.”

“Those are Yachi’s.”

“The small manager?” Kageyama nodded. “You should hang out with her more. She seems smart.”

It took Oikawa a few minutes to get through the notes.

“You’re ready?” He asked once he reached the end.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Kageyama looked at the notes in mistrust.

“Then let’s do this!”

As it turned out Oikawa was really good at explaining maths. The words that came out of his mouth actually made sense unlike whatever Kageyama’s maths teacher was trying to communicate. He was surprisingly patient when Kageyama didn’t catch on immediately and tried to explain things in a different way when what he had previously tried seemed to make no sense to the younger boy.

After going over a few examples, Kageyama solved a few equations by himself, which went astonishingly well.

“I think I’ve got it!” Kageyama exclaimed. “This is pretty easy actually.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. Keep the celebrating for when you get the exam back.” Oikawa ran his hand through his hair. “To be honest you’re not as bad as I thought you would be.”

“I kind of get why people like to do this. Maybe we should do one more, just for fun.” Kageyama suggested.

“Maybe there’s something else we could do, for fun.”

There was a pause. Kageyama looked up at the older boy. When did they get this close? But most importantly why was Oikawa moving even closer? What–

“Tobio! I’m home.” A voice came from the front door.

Kageyama stood up abruptly. He gave Oikawa a look that he hoped meant _you wait here_ , before he stepped into the hallway.

“Mum, you’re early.” Kageyama said.

“Is that a way to great your mother.” The woman looked at her watch. “It’s half past six. If anything, I’m late.”

“Oh, mum– I– I have a–” Kageyama stuttered.

“Sorry for intruding.” Oikawa materialised next to Kageyama. “I can leave if I’m causing any inconveniences.”

“Tobio, why didn’t you tell me you had a friend over?” His mum asked.

Kageyama stayed glued in place while Oikawa walked past him and stretched out his hand. “Oikawa Tooru. Nice to meet you.”

“Such a polite young man.” Kageyama’s mother shook Oikawa’s hand. “Kageyama Akari. The pleasure is all mine.”

Kageyama watched the interaction between his Mother and Oikawa curiously.

“And he’s really handsome, too. Don’t you think so, Tobio?” Both his mother and Oikawa turned to look at Kageyama who had proceeded to hide behind the doorframe.

“I– I don’t know.” Kageyama could feel his cheek get warm.

His mother turned her attention back to Oikawa. “He’s just like his father. He couldn’t get a word out during our first five dates. Don’t worry about it. He’ll get better.”

“Mum!” Kageyama interrupted his mother.

She, however, ignored he son’s protest. “Would you like to stay for dinner, Tooru?”

“Thanks for offering, but I have to go home. Maybe another time.”

“I’ll leave you boys to it then. I hope I’ll see you again soon, Tooru.” She turned to her son. “Come help me with dinner once you’ve said goodbye to your friend,” she added before heading to the kitchen.

There was a moment of silence where Kageyama avoided Oikawa’s gaze. He supposed that he was still red from his mother embarrassing him like that and afraid that he would keep on stuttering if he tried to speak.

“I guess I’ll go home then.” Oikawa said tentatively.

Kageyama nodded.

The younger boy waited in the hallway while Oikawa went back into his bedroom to get his things.

No words were exchanged between the two boys as Oikawa put his shoes back on and then shouldered his backpack.

Kageyama inhaled deeply, gathering all his courage and said, “I’m sorry about that.”

Oikawa looked at him questioningly for a second. “It’s okay.” He smiled. “I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

“Obviously. I’m not going two days in a row without volleyball.” Both boys laughed.

Oikawa opened the front door. “Good luck for your exam tomorrow.”

“Thanks for the help.”

“Any time.” Oikawa stepped outside and closed the door behind him.

Kageyama stared at the closed door for a moment trying to make sense of what just happened.

“You’re really red.” The sound of his mother’s voice made Kageyama jump. How did she get there? “Don’t worry I did not spy on you. But if you keep being so secretive, I might start.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t be like that.” She laughed at her son’s confused expression. “If I were your age, I’d be so jealous. He’s very pretty.”

She ruffled her son’s hair before walking back to the kitchen.

“Mum? What?”

🏐🏐🏐

“Your mum said he’s pretty?” Hinata asked as Kageyama finished his story.

“That’s all you kept from all of this?” Kageyama looked at the smaller boy in disbelieve.

“The rest seems like basic mum talk to me.”

“It’s still embarrassing.” Kageyama hid his face behind the notebook.

“You’re worried about what Oikawa might have thought?”

Kageyama did not look up from behind the notebook.

“Hey, your mum’s cool.” Hinata placed his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I’m aware that I don’t know Oikawa that well, but I’m sure he actually enjoyed spending time with you and your mum. Especially if she poked fun at you.”

“You really think so?” Kageyama peaked out from behind the notebook.

“Sure. He likes messing with you too. He and your mum are bound to get along swimmingly.” Hinata joked.

“It’s not funny.”

“It is.” Kageyama gave him a destructive look. “Maybe just a little. I bet his family is just as bad.”

“His parents are rather strict, but his sister is cool.” The blush started to fade from Kageyama’s face.

“You met them?”

“I had dinner with them once.”

“You had dinner with them?” Hinata echoed.

“Yes, that’s what I just said. Listen up, dumbass.”

🏐🏐🏐

On Friday evening after their practice Kageyama found himself sitting on the floor of Oikawa’s bedroom watching the first _Alien_ movie. He wasn’t sure how he ended up there: something about Oikawa’s parents not being home that night.

That evening they had practiced at the park for maybe twenty minutes before it started to rain. It wasn’t heavy rain but the soil of the volleyball court in the park started to become muddy rather quickly causing them to have to cut their training session short.

On their way home Kageyama got a message from his mum telling him that she would be late, and he should not wait up for her.

“You’re alone tonight?” Oikawa asked.

“Looks like it.”

“Well, so am I. Do you maybe want to watch a movie and have dinner over at mine?”

Kageyama thought about it for a moment. He was still mentally scared from what had happened on Wednesday, but since it would only be him and Oikawa it should be fine, right? And, to be honest, he had been curious about the older boy’s house. So, he agreed.

As it turned out there was no house. To Kageyama’s surprise Oikawa lived in an apartment. It was different from what he had expected. For some reason whenever he had imagined what Oikawa was up to after practice, he pictures him going home to a huge mansion. But this had nothing of the extravagance Kageyama had envisaged. The apartment – from what he could tell from the entry – was rather small. There were a few pictures hanging on the walls. As he waited for Oikawa to lock the door behind them, he took a closer look at the pictures. On one of them Kageyama could make Oikawa and Iwaizumi. It must have been taken when they were in primary school by the look of it. Another seemed to be the Oikawa siblings; brother and sister arms thrown around each other smiling. There were a few more, some of both of them with their parents and some of Oikawa’s sister with her son. But something felt off. Something was missing.

Volleyball.

There were no picture of Oikawa and his team. Absolutely no sign that the captain of one of the powerhouse schools lived here.

“You done staring at those stupid pictures?”

Kageyama thought about asking why there were no volleyball related pictures but then opted against it. “So, about that movie?”

“Oh, my dear kohai, you’re in for a treat.” The older boy said leading the way into his bedroom.

Oikawa’s bedroom was the opposite of what Kageyama had seen of the apartment so far. Everything in there seemed to be somehow related to volleyball. There was a framed picture of the Aobajohsai volleyball team on the desk, there was a pile of disks Kageyama supposed were volleyball recordings, and on the bookshelf next to a collection of books sat two volleyballs.

“Don’t just stand there.” Oikawa motioned to the spot on the floor next to him. “We have a movie to watch.”

Kageyama took the spot next to the older boy, leaned back against the bed, and focused on the laptop in front of them on which the movie was already playing.

The movie was good. Not that he had questioned the other boy’s taste, of course. To say that Kageyama was not used to scary movies would have been an understatement. His heart was racing from the first minute, but he would not give Oikawa the opportunity to tease him.

!Kageyama did a great job for the first half of the movie, staying calm as a few of the characters left the ship to explore the planet they had landed on. He only jerked a little as one of the creatures attached to one of the character’s face. He relaxed a little as the expedition team made it back to their ship which turned out to be a mistake when a seemingly calm scene turned extremely gore as an alien burst out of one of the character’s abdomen. Kageyama flinched. It took some time for his heartbeat to slow down and it took even longer for him to realise that in the moment of shock he had grabbed the other boy’s forearm. He let go immediately hoping the older boy by some miracle would not have realised what had happened. That of course did not happen.

“Sorry.” Kageyama answered to Oikawa’s questioning look.

“No it’s fine. Actually it's more than fine. I mean if you want –” there was a pause– “we can.” Oikawa did not elaborate on what they could do but that did not matter as they heard the front door being opened.

“Tooru?” a voice called from the hallway.

The older boy sighed and muttered a “seriously?” before pausing the movie.

As it turned out Oikawa’s parents’ plans had been cancelled last minute and they had thought it would be a great idea to invite their daughter and grandson to have dinner with them. Upon realising that their son had a friend over, they proceeded –unmoved by Kageyama’s repeated remarks that he really did not want to intrude – to invite him to stay for dinner as well.

Dinner was eventful. For Kageyama family dinners consisted of him sharing a meal with his mother. This was something different. Five people, six if he added himself to the count, sitting around a table all talking about their day, made for a hectic exchange. One of the people being a child did also not help making it any calmer.

Kageyama was glad that no one had really payed him further attention than asking the usual _How old are you_? _Where do you go to school?_ questions. This, however, changed as Oikawa’s sister turned in her chair to get a better look at Kageyama.

“So, it turns out that my brother has other friends than Hajime. Unbelievable.” She joked.

“Don’t be rude to your brother,” Oikawa’s mother warned her daughter, but the tone of her voice made it sound more like an encouragement.

“Tobio, you play volleyball too, right?” Oikawa’s sister asked.

“Of course, he does. He’s Karasuno’s setter. He went to National last month.” Takeru exclaimed with admiration in his voice.

“That’s incredible. Are you going to join our Tooru here to Tokyo to try and go pro after high-school?”

“I will try. It’s two more years–”

“As for Tooru that has not been decided yet.” Oikawa’s father interrupted Kageyama.

“Do we have to talk about this right now?” Oikawa asked defensively.

“There’s not much until you’re planning to leave for Tokyo. I’m just asking you to think about this carefully.”

“I’ve made my choice. I’m not going to change my mind.”

“What your father is trying to say,” Oikawa’s mother said with a voice that she must have thought to be soothing but sent shivers down Kageyama’s spine. “You should consider that what you want right now might not be the best for your future.”

“And I’ve already told you, volleyball can be a career. I can do this.” Oikawa objected.

“For some people, yes. But not for you. Your mother and I hope you’d finally see reason after the last tournament. You’ve tried for three years. This isn’t going anywhere. Some things are not meant to be, Tooru. You better leave it to those with the talent necessary to succeed.” Oikawa’s father gestured toward Kageyama.

There was an awkward silence. The pressure was palpable, and Kageyama wished he could hide under the table. He stole a glance Oikawa. The older boy stared at his plate. Kageyama looked back at Oikawa’s parents who were eying their son expectantly. _How could they say something like that? How could they question their son’s skill? Did they not know that Oikawa Tooru was the best high-school level setter in Miyaji? Hell, in all of Japan probably!_

Kageyama took a deep breath, gathered all his courage. “Your son is the best player I know. I can only hope that I’ll be as good as him someday.”

Kageyama regretted opening his mouth as all eyes were not fixed on him now. He looked intensely at a spot on the wall avoiding all eye contact.

“I like him.” Oikawa’s sister laughed setting an end to the silence. “You should bring him over more often, Tooru.” 

The rest of dinner went by a lot calmer as the conversation moved away from the topic of volleyball. Kageyama was just glad that he was no longer the centre of attention.

🏐🏐🏐

“This is awkward.” Hinata noted.

“You don’t say.”

“But why don’t they want him to play volleyball? He’s the Grand King?” Hinata asked.

“I highly doubt they call him that.”

“I know that, idiot.” Hinata looked concerned. “He’s still going to Tokyo, right? He’s not going to quit volleyball?”

“Of course not.”

“That’s good.” Hinata seemed relieved.

“Yes, it is.”

“I hope I’ll get to play against him again.”

“Who knows maybe you’ll play in the same team.”

“Maybe if we’re in the same team, he’ll share all the dirt on his boyfriend with me.” Hinata smirked.

“What boyfriend?”

“You, you idiot.”

“He’s not my boyfriend” Kageyama protested.

“We don’t know for sure just yet. Now add that checkmark so we can carry on.” Kageyama did as he was told. “Ok, so, number six.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> If you want to follow me on twitter the link is [here](https://twitter.com/oioi_trkw)
> 
> See on the next chapter


	7. you Trust Oikawa Tooru with Your Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which honesty doesn't seem that scary
> 
> (or my mediocre attempt at angst)

“Number six: ‘you trust them with your secrets,’” Hinata read. “’Trust, trust and even more trust, that’s the most important part of a relationship. We might have already mentioned it once or twice. But _trust_ us on this one. You get it? Trust us. Trust. Ok. That’s enough with the puns for this one.’” Hinata pauses. “Is it me or does whoever wrote this think they’re a lot funnier than they actually are?”

“That’s not you. That joke was really lame,” Kageyama agreed

Clearly satisfied with having his friend agree with his clever remark, Hinata carried on reading. “‘Trust is scary, being completely honest with someone can be frightening. But as you slowly reveal your true self to your significant other, the relationship can only bloom. Remember that when it comes to love, trust is a two-way street. Accept their secrets the way you’d like them to accept yours.’”

“What?” Kageyama asked as he looked up after adding a _6 secrets_ to the list finding a shit eating grin across his friend’s face.

“What’s your secret?” Hinata asked.

“Why would I have a secret?” Kageyama’s look of confusion transferred to Hinata.

“You put a checkmark on that point.”

“I did.”

“So you do have a secret.”

“No.”

“But you–” Hinata gesticulated wildly as if the answer he was looking for was floating in front of him. The grin that had decorated Hinata featured not even a minute ago now slowly creeped his way onto Kageyama’s face. After a pause the ginger boy added a short “oh” as the realisation hit him.

“You really are an idiot sometimes,” Kageyama said with a matter of fact voice.

“What’s the Grand King’s secret then?”

“As if I’d tell you. It’s a secret after all.”

“Come on,” Hinata insisted.

“No.”

“A little hint. A little something. Even if it’s not the secret. Something that justifies that checkmark.”

🏐🏐🏐

Kageyama and Oikawa met up the day after the dinner with Oikawa’s parents. It wasn’t much different than any other time they’d met up to play volleyball. Nevertheless, some of the awkwardness from the previous night still laid between the two boys.

To say that Kageyama was not good at reading people would be a big understatement. He was just straight up bad at it. Had it not been for the raw aggressiveness with which the older boy was spiking the ball that were tossed to him, Kageyama would not have realised that something was wrong.

“Again.” Oikawa declared as threw yet another ball for Kageyama to toss. “What?” he asked as the younger boy missed his toss.

“Maybe we should take a break for a few minutes.” Kageyama suggested breathing heavily, sweat was running down his face.

If Oikawa had heard him, he did not show any signs of slowing down. If anything, the next ball flying into Kageyama’s direction did so faster than the previous ones.

Kageyama caught the ball mid-air. He would be lying if he said that his hands did not hurt like hell. His palms that were still tightly wrapped around the ball grew hotter with every throb of his pulse.

“What!” Oikawa was visibly upset.

“That’s enough!” Kageyama retorted. He pushed the pain out of his mind. This was no time to show weakness. He knew all too well that the older boy would take advantage of any kind of hesitation from his part.

Kageyama was still holding the ball the way he had caught it as he sat down at the edge of the field where they’d placed their bags. He must have looked stupid like that: his legs stretched out and his elbows raised causing his forearms to form horizontal lines on either side if the ball.

“You’re going to break the ball if you keep smashing it like that.” Kageyama keeps staring at the ball ignoring the older boy’s comment. “I’m being serious. It’s a school ball. I’ll have to bring it back.” Oikawa held out his hands, demandingly.

“If this means so much to you, you can have it.” The younger boy finally relaxed his grip. His palm peals from the leather, the ball rolls over the field stopping at Oikawa’s feet; yet the older boy did not make an attend to pick it up.

A moment passed. Then another. Oikawa keep staring intensely at his feet.

“Aren’t you going to pick it up?” Kageyama asked.

No response.

“The ball,” the younger boy added about to get up “aren’t you going to–”

“No.”

“Why?” Kageyama hesitated for a second but then proceeded to stand up.

The answer came in a sequence of incomprehensible sounds.

“What?” Kageyama took a few steps closer to the other boy.

“I can’t. okay.” Oikawa avoided the younger boy’s eyes. “I can’t get it.”

“What do you mean you can’t?” Kageyama asked starting to get genuinely concerned.

With every step he took closer to the other boy, he grew more worried. Oikawa who usually stood straight and tall even next to giants like Ushijima, looked endearingly small. _And were those tears?_

“Can you please get it for me?” Oikawa asked only half failing to keep his voice still, his eyes still fixed on the ball,

“Of course.” Kageyama was surprised by how soft the words running past his lips were. “Here,” he added as he handed Oikawa the ball carefully as if it were the most precious thing he’s ever held.

“Thanks.” Oikawa warped his hands cautiously around the leather. As their eyes finally met, Kageyama was startled to find Oikawa smiling at him.

“Anytime,” Kageyama added in lack of a better response.

Oikawa took a deep breath before limping to the side of the court. He added a “I’ve got this” before Kageyama could come to his aid.

Kageyama stood still trying not to stare too obviously as Oikawa sat down awkwardly.

“Don’t just stand there. You’re the one who wanted a break after all.” Kageyama sat down next to the other boy.

There was a moment of silence. Kageyama was at a loss for words. _What was he supposed to say? What would he want someone to tell to him if he were in that situation?_

Oikawa broke the silence, keeping Kageyama from the wall of embarrassment he would have certainly run face first had he been the one to speak first.

“Sometimes I think my dad’s right when he says I should stop volleyball. I don’t know how much longer I have until my knee’s completely useless.” Kageyama stole a glance at Oikawa who had gone back to studying the ball he was now balancing on the back of his hand. “Hopefully long enough to get through college, maybe not even.”

Oikawa took a deep breath as if to add something else, but then said nothing more.

Kageyama glared intensely at his shoes the silence growing uncomfortable. He could not hold a normal conversation at the best of times, how was he supposed to deal with this? But he had to say something.

“I don’t want you to stop volleyball.” He murmured.

“Sorry? I didn’t quite catch that.”

“I don’t want you to stop playing volleyball. Please let me play with you a little longer.” Kageyama could feel the other boy’s gaze on him, but he could still not bring himself to look up.

“Tobio?” As Kageyama finally turned to face Oikawa, the other boy was smiling. “Still want to learn my serve?”

“Of course.” Kageyama responded

“I’ll teach you.”

“How? You can’t even stand properly.”

“Not right now, you big dummy.” Oikawa laughed, ruffing the younger boy’s hair. “Now help me get up. I think it’s time to ice that knee.”

🏐🏐🏐

“He taught me his serve.”

“He taught you his serve!” Hinata screamed. “I can’t believe this. And you’re only telling me this now? We’ll be invincible in the next tournament!”

“Don’t get cocky. If you don’t improve your game, we’re more likely to drop out during the first match.” Kageyama noted.

“Hey! That’s not fair. Unlike someone I do not have a boyfriend to train with,” Hinata said with a hint of jealousy – more about the extra volleyball practice than the boyfriend thing.

“Again, he’s not my boyfriend.”

“Who are you kidding at this point?” Hinata laughed. “He’s definitely your boyfriend.”

“We don’t know that.” Kageyama countered. “Stop laughing and keep reading.”

It took Hinata a few moments to get a grip on himself. “Number seven.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! thanks for reading!  
> Sorry for the late (and short) upload But uni has been hell lately. However, my uni has now switched to online classes so I hope I'll be able to get more writing done!  
> That being said I hope you're all doing fine despite the current uneasy situation. Please take care and stay safe!
> 
> I'll see you all for the next chapter
> 
> If you want to follow me on twitter her's the link
> 
> PS: all kudos and comments are welcome


	8. you go on dates with Oikawa Tooru

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they don't go on a date, or do they?

“Number seven: ‘You go on a date with them.’” Hinata read.

Kageyama wrote a _7 date_ at the bottom of the list. Looking up to see why the shorter boy had stopped reading, he found his friend looking at him with a mischievous grin.

“What?” Hinata didn’t respond, but rather kept smiling. “Stop looking constipated and keep reading.”

“I’m not–” Hinata paused for a second. He knew better than to argue with his friend right now. “Anyway, back to the text. ‘You’ve probably been waiting for this one. Going on dates is synonymous with dating. Going out, spending quality time together is essential to dating–”

“How’s this different to–” Kageyama looked over the list “–point one _hanging out_?”

Hinata blinked a few times, trying to keep his calm. “Maybe we would have figured that out by now, if you let me finish reading for once.”

Kageyama opened his mouth, but before he could formulate a sassy response, he was stopped by Hinata carrying on with the article.

“’You might wonder how this point differs from point one?’” Hinata turned to the taller boy. “I swear to god if you say one word, I’ll leave you alone with your little boyfriend problems.”

“Not my boy–“

“What did I just say?”

“Sorry.” Kageyama looked down at his lap. “Could you continue reading, please.”

Hinata exhaled sharply. “‘Hanging out and going on a date aren’t the same thing. While hanging out could be anything, going on a date has a more serious note to it. This doesn’t mean the activity, or the place has to be fancy (we wouldn’t say no to a fancy place though _wink wink_ ). The feelings behind it are different. It’s unlike the other times you’ve spent moments together. It’s special, in both place and activity and most importantly feelings. And do not worry if you didn’t outright call it a date. Most first ‘real dates’ come after the first unofficial ones.’”

“This is the least helpful point so far.” Kageyama noted. “How am I supposed to know if the–” he lifted his right hand to draw air quotes–“feelings are different. Volleyball is volleyball. It feels… well like volleyball.”

Hinata glared at the taller boy. “And they say _I_ ’m bad with words.”

“At least I’m actually using words and not just random sounds.”

“This is the ‘is Kageyama dating the Grand-King’ list not the ‘bashing Hinata’ list. So, can we get back to the subject?” The shorter boy urged.

There was a short pause during which the two boys stared at the opposite wall.

“But you’ve done other things together than just volleyball, right?”

🏐🏐🏐

On Tuesday afternoon, Kageyama was sitting at the kitchen table trying to do his English homework. From the living room he could hear his mother or rather the drama she was watching. Why she was so obsessed with this particular kind of drama – the one where the poor young girl fell in love with the rich CEO – would forever stay a mystery to him. He would never admit that he was at that moment listening into the conversation the main character was having with her best friend about the handsome man that keeps going to her tea shop; even if it was only due to the fact that his homework was so very boring.

Just as the best friend was encouraging the main character to ask the handsome man on a date, Kageyama got a text from his best friend.

[From Hinata]  
>>Hi Kags  
>> Im rlly srry but I cant go to the fair tonight  
>>Grandmas sick mum has to go see her  
>>nd I have to look after Natsu  
>>srry :’(

[To Hinata]  
>>K

[From Hinata]  
>> :/  
>>can u not txt properly?

[To Hinata]  
>>okay

[From Hinata]  
>>ur the worst

“Mum!”

From the living room came a sound of understanding.

“I’m not going to the fair tonight. Hinata has to look after his sister tonight.”

“Poor Shouyou, he was looking forward to it,” his mother sympathised. “Tell him I said hi.”

“I’m not on the phone with him mum.”

“Then text him I said hi.”

Kageyama ignored his mother’s last remark and turned back to his homework. However, no matter how hard he tried he could not understand the sentence from his textbook.

He did not have to torture himself long with the mush of word on the pages in front of him as he soon got another text.

[From Oikawa]  
>>Are you busy?

[To Oikawa]  
>>Trying to do my English homework

[From Oikawa]  
>>When’s it due?

[To Oikawa]  
>>Friday  
>>Why?

[From Oikawa]  
>>Great  
>>Then you come to the fair with me

Kageyama stared at his phone for a bit. _Why was Oikawa asking him to go to the fair?_ Technically he didn’t ask him; he told him to go with him. Kageyama could point out how rude that was, or… Or he could just agree. He really wanted to go to the fair, and Oikawa had turned out to be better company than he ever could have imagined.

[To Oikawa]  
>>When? Where?

[From Oikawa]  
>> :)  
>> In half an hour?  
>> In front of the 7/11 across the station?

[To Oikawa]  
>>I’ll be there

[From Oikawa]  
>>Can’t wait

A part of him new that he should not leave things as they were and not tease an already unhappy Hinata. But another part, the one that lost that morning race to class, thought that a little mocking would do no harm.

[To Hinata]  
>>Guess who’s going to the fair without you?

[From Hinata]  
>>You traitor

“Are you done with your homework?” His mother asked as she entered the kitchen, seeing her son put his books into his bag.

“Not really, but I’m going to the fair. I’ll finish tomorrow.”

“I thought Shouyou had to stay at home.”

“He does.” Kageyama added making his way to his room to put his school bag away. Coming back out he added, “I’m going with Oikawa.”

He was halfway through putting on his shoes as his mother came sprinting from the kitchen.

“Tooru?” she asked.

“Yes.” Kageyama answered hesitantly. “Is that no okay?”

“No, of course it’s fine.” His mother studied him for a while. Kageyama felt uneasy. Was there something on his shirt? Was something wrong with his trackpants? “But you’re getting changed first, right?”

“I wasn’t planning to.” His mother gave him one of her _I love you, but you’re being really stupid right now_ looks. Kageyama knew that there was no use arguing with her. And even if he had wanted to, it was made difficult by her rushing into his room.

“Your grandma gave you some really nice trousers last Christmas,” she called from her son’s bedroom.

When Kageyama made it to his room, his mother was looking through his clothes. The trousers his grandmother had gifted him already laying on his bed.

“Where did you put that shirt, you wore for your cousin’s wedding; the blue one?”

“Mum that wedding was 3 years ago. I don’t think the shirt still fits.” Kageyama examined his grandmother’s gift and sent her a mental _thank you_ for her ability to find a middle ground between fashionable and comfortable. Way too often had his mother compromised her son’s freedom of movement in order to put in some quote-on-quote super cute clothes.

“Here take this. It’s not as nice but it’ll do.” She handed him a white t-shirt. “You better hurry up. It’s very rude to be late.” She added and left him alone in his room.

A few moments later he was putting on his shoes for the second time in less than 10 minutes. His mother looked at him with a much more content look on her face.

“You look very handsome. Who would have guessed that this is what it takes to get you to put on something that’s not the school uniform or sport clothes?” She ran her fingers through her son’s hair, trying unsuccessful to keep it from falling into his eyes. “How do you even see? I’ll take you to the hairdresser next week.”

“Mum,” Kageyama freed himself from his mother’s attempt at styling his hair. “I have to go now. As you said, it’s rude to be late.”

“Right,” She padded his shoulder. “You’re all grown up now. I’m so proud of you.”

As he stepped out the door, he could hear her say “tell Tooru I said hi.”

The walk to the train station was short and the anticipation made it even shorter. Despite his mother’s intervention about his clothes, Kageyama crossed the street in front of the 7/11 a few minutes before the established meeting time. To his surprise Oikawa was already standing outside the convenient store.

“Tobio!” The older boy exclaimed as he spotted him crossing the street.

“Hi Oikawa.”

“Want one?” Oikawa stretched out a pack of panda shaped chocolates. “It’s weird to see you in casual clothes.”

With the chocolate still in his mouth Kageyama tried to articulate that it was his mother’s idea to get him into those clothes but failed miserably. Instead of articulating an explanation he nearly choked on the chocolate.

“Breathe,” the taller boy tapped him lightly on the back. “Don’t get all worked up about it. It was a compliment. You look nice.”

Once he managed to catch his breath, Kageyama took a closer look at the other boy’s appearance. He too was wearing casual clothes: a pair of washed out jeans ripped over one of his knees, and a long-sleeved striped shirt.

“You look good too.” Kageyama was taken aback by Oikawa’s reaction to him returning the compliment. The older boy gave him one of his rare genuine smiles, those that reached all the way to his eyes. At that sight Kageyama couldn’t help but chuckle. He quickly put a hand in front of his mouth as he realised, holding back the laughter that had escaped him.

“You’re too cute, Tobio.” Oikawa laughed. “Come on we’ve got lots of things to do. I’ve heard they have a really big rollercoaster this year.”

On the way to the fair, Oikawa explained all the things he wanted to do that night: from rollercoasters to haunted house with a quick stop for popcorn.

“What do you want to do first?” Kageyama stopped in his track. He did not expect to be asked what he wanted to do. He was actually quite okay with just tagging alone to whatever Oikawa wanted to do.

“I’m not sure. I was supposed to come here with Hinata. He had a whole plan worked out.”

“The shrimp? Where is he now?” Oikawa asked.

“He’s at home. He has to look after his little sister.”

“Too bad for him.” Oikawa said with a look that had no trace of sympathy in it. “I think we should go to the pirate ship first. That thing is hell once you’ve eaten something.”

After they’d been on a few rides, they decided to make a quick stop to get some food. However, on their way to the food stands, Oikawa got distracted by the carnival games.

“Skee-ball!” Oikawa pointed at a game that consisted of different sized metal rings. The boy playing it was struggling to get the ball into the smallest ring. “Do you see that Tobio? His girlfriend is pissed because he’s so bad at it.” And, yes, Kageyama could see the girl standing a bit to the side looking extremely unhappy about her boyfriend continuous attempts at hitting the highest points.

“The small prizes are just as good. Stop wasting your money like that.” Kageyama heard the girl complain as they made their way to the stand.

“That’s obviously not true. Don’t worry, Tobio. I’ll get you one of the good prizes.”

It did not come as a big surprise to Kageyama when Oikawa easily scored the maximum amount of points. It did feel a little like cheating. There were obviously no rules stating that you were not allowed to play if you’re one of the best high school level volleyball players in the whole country, but Kageyama did feel bad for the boy next to them who was trying to get his girlfriend a nice prize. Oikawa did not seem to care about the dirty looks both the boy and his girlfriend were giving him.

“Here you go!” Oikawa looked delighted when he handed Kageyama the Pikachu plushie. “Now let’s get some food.”

The foods court of the fair was busy; there were people queuing in front of every stand and only a few seats left on the long tables.

“If you get us some seats, I’ll go grab some food.” Oikawa offered.

“You don’t have to.” Kageyama held up the plushie. “You’ve already-”

“It’s fine don’t worry.” Oikawa ruffled the younger boy’s hair. “What kind of senpai would I be if I’d let you starve.”

Kageyama was left alone. Well not completely alone; he still had the Pikachu plushie, be he guessed that that didn’t really count.

The search for a table turned out to be more difficult than he had anticipated. He went up a few tables with empty seats, only to be told by the people at the table that they were waiting for their friends. Kageyama was mentally cursing those friends and the concept of reserving seats, when he heard his name.

“Kageyma!” Yachi called from a few tables a way, waving excitedly.

Next to her sat Kiyoko. Both girls smiled at him as he made his way over to them.

“You’re looking for a seat, right?” Kageyama nodded. “You can sit with us. Those seats were for Tanaka and Nishinoya, but they got some bet going on about who can do the most rides before throwing up. I guess we won’t see them for a while.”

“I can sit somewhere else if you’d rather be alone.” Kageyama felt a little uncomfortable interrupting the two girls’ date.

“It’s fine Kageyama. Please take a seat.” Kiyoko nodded to the seat opposite of Yachi.

“Is that a Pikachu plushie?” Yachi pointed at the fluff ball Kageyma was holding.

“Yes,” he answered, handing her the plushie.

“That’s a really hard prize to get. You must be really good at those games.”

“Well, actually–”

“Are you showing off the prize I won for you?” Kageyama was taken aback by Oikawa’s sudden appearance, and by the look of it so were Yachi and Kiyoko. “You’re Karasuno’s managers, right? I’m Oikawa, Seijo’s Captain. Nice to meet you.”

The two girls looked from Oikawa to Kaegyama, then back again.

“Nice to meet you too.” Kiyoko managed to answer while Yachi still looked as shocked as Kageyama felt.

“Oh–” Oikawa looked at the cotton candy he was holding, as if he only noticed now that it was there– “I wanted to get some fries, but the queue was way too long. I hope you don’t mind sharing this.”

“It’s fine.” Kageyma took the cotton candy out of Oikawa’s hand.

“Oh, it’s shaped like a flower.” Yachi noted as Kageyama broke off a piece of the sugary treat.

“It’s cute right?” Oikawa asked his eyes fixed on the younger boy.

Kageyama stopped in mid-motion. He felt weirdly exposed. All eyes were on him waiting for his reaction. This was not how he’d expected to spend his evening. Being stared at by both managers and his new volleyball partner while he was eating cotton candy, definitely not what he’d planned for the night.

“It’s really sweet.” He manages to comment after he’s awkwardly let the sugar dissolve on his tongue.

His three friends burst out laughing: Kiyoko gave him a look of endearment, yet still couldn’t fight a smile, Yachi unsuccessfully tried to hide her laughter behind her plushie-free hand, and Oikawa just beamed at him.

“Isn’t he adorable?” Kageyama was about to protest but both girl nodding in agreement put him at a 3 to 1 disadvantage and he did not like those odds much.

Luckily for him though, the conversation shifted away from him and to the topic of best fair foods and he could relax. He let his mind wander for a little. While the interaction went well –it was not nothing like the one with Suga, Tanaka, and Noshinoya–, he still felt like his school life and whatever the part containing Oikawa was did not really go together. Even though he enjoyed their company, Kageyma couldn’t help but wish that Yachi and Kiyoko were not there with them.

The disappointment he felt when Oikawa accepted Kiyoko’s offer that they should accompany the two girls to the ferris wheel, did not come as a surprise. Nevertheless, Kageyama smiled politely as the older boy jokingly put an arm around his shoulders to push him along to the part of the fair where the rides were.

Fortunately for the teenagers, the queue wasn’t too long. Oikawa in an effort to make conversation, a domain where no one could rely on Kageyama, ask Kiyoko about her post-graduation plans.

Apparently Yachi read that as her cue to interrogate a non-suspecting Kageyma.

“Does Hinata know about this?” she asked

“Yes,” Kageyama answered unsure why she’d ask if Hinata knew that he was at the fair.

“Is it okay if I talk to him about it?” She added.

“If you want to. I don’t see why not. It was his idea in the first place.” Kageyama recalled Hinata literally screaming about the fair during one of their lunch breaks.

“That’s great. I’m really happy for you.”

“Thanks,” he tried not to sound too confused as to why she congratulated him on Hinata’s behaviour.

“You’re really cute together,” she gave him a big smile and Kageyama felt like Yachi and him were not having the same conversation.

He was about to ask her was she meant, when Kiyoko reached her girlfriend’s hand.

“It’s our turn next,” she said before gently guiding Yachi into the capsule, leaving Kageyama with Oikawa.

The boys only had to wait a few seconds before a staff member opened the next capsule’s door for them. The ferries wheel must have been designed for the Japanese market as it was, Kageyama realised as Oikawa sat down next to him, not constructed to fit two tall people. It should have been awkward the way he was pressed against the older boy’s side, but somewhere along the past two weeks he must have grown accustomed to Oikawa’s constant presence that it did no longer bother him.

The ferris wheel was an enjoyable ride, Kageyama decided. It allowed him to get a good view at Sendai while being actually relaxing unlike the other rides.

“Look Tobio! You can see Kitagawa Daiichi from here.” Oikawa pointed into the direction of where they’d both gone to middle school.

Kageyama wasn’t sure what to answer to this. Middle school wasn’t a time he much liked looking back too.

“I’m sorry, you know.” Oikawa must have sensed his discomfort. “About middle school.”

There was a small pause. If Oikawa had expected an answer from Kageyama, he did not get one.

“I was shitty to you back then. I’ve said things I shouldn’t have. I’ve done things I now regret.”

Kageyama stole a look at the other boy. Oikawa was looking straight ahead, no trace left of the confidence he usually put up.

“About that one time–”

“It’s okay.” Kageyama interrupted.

“What?”

“I said it’s okay.” Now it was Kageyama who look intensely at the view in front of them in order to avoid Oikawa’s eyes. “Hinata and I once beat the shit out of each other over volleyball and we’re still friends. I think I can forgive you for almost slapping me.”

“Kageyama,” hearing Oikawa use his last name sent shivers down the younger boy’s spine.

“I don’t hate you for it. It was mostly just sad.” Kageyama took a deep breath. “I didn’t want to take your spot. I just wanted to play with you.”

As Kageyama finally found the courage to look at Oikawa, the older boy’s expression was unreadable, yet Kageyama could not take his eyes off of him.

“I’m sorry I ruined the ride for you.” Oikawa spoke after a few moments of silence. 

Kageyama for maybe the first time in his life managed to speak openly to someone’s face. “You didn’t.” He meant it. He’s heart felt a lot lighter than it had in years.

Oikawa looked like he was about to say something as the door of the capsule opened with a loud ‘click.’

“The view was really nice!” Yachi exclaimed as the boys joined her and Kiyoko.

Oikawa gave some incomprehensible humming sounds as response and Kageyama just stared at his feet.

“It’s not all about the view.” Kiyoko laughed. All eyes were fixed on her. She usually wasn’t one to joke around.

“Oh?” Yachi's look of confusion turned into a smile. “Oh!”

Kageyama turned to Oikawa to see if he too was unable to understand the interaction between the two girls, but the older boy was avoiding his gaze. His cheek had turned a light shade of pink.

“We’ll go home now.” Yachi said. “See you tomorrow, Kageyama. Bye, Oikawa.”

The girls left waving goodbye.

“We should get going too.” Oikawa said after a few moments of silence.

“Yeah, I guess we should.”

🏐🏐🏐

“But you’ve done other things together than just volleyball, right?” Hianta asked.

“Not really. We mostly just play volleyball.” Kageyama answered.

“Now it’s getting ridiculous,” the shorter boy exclaimed. “Kageyama I know you went to the fair with Oikawa. You don’t have to keep it a secret.”

Kageyama gave Hinata a confused look.

“How do you know that?”

“Yachi told me. She also told me that you said I already knew. What’s that about?” Hinata asked.

“Misunderstanding?” Kageyama tested as an explanation.

“You really are a big mess when it comes to communication, you know that?”

“Because you are an expert at it?” Hinata could not come up with a sassy response quick enough. “That’s what I thought.”

“Shut up, just because you have a boyfriend now does not mean you’re better than me.”

This time it was Kageyama who failed to find the right words.

“So, you’re no longer denying that he’s your boyfriend.” Hinata teased.

“I did not say that.” Kageyama retorted.

“No need to blush, I was just kidding.” Hinata laughed.

“I’m not blushing.” The taller boy said lowering his gave just us case he was actually blushing. Not that he was.

Even though Hinata liked to poke fun at the other boy, he knew where the line was, or rather he knew how far he could go with fearing for his physical safety.

“Put down that checkmark so we can carry on.” Kageyma did as he was told. “Okay, let’s go back to business!”

A pause.

“What that too much?”

“Kind of.”

“I’ll just start reading.”

“Do that.”

“Number eight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! 
> 
> Thanks for reading! I'm sorry again about the late update, but as it turns out online class are even less chill than normal classes. 
> 
> Anyhow, I hope you're all safe! Make sure you wash your hands and stay at home.  
> Stay safe! 
> 
> As always all kudos and comments are welcome <3
> 
> [Link to my twitter](https://twitter.com/oioi_trkw)


	9. you hold Oikawa Tooru’s hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which a simple gesture carries so much meaning
> 
> (or even I had to cringe at all that fluff, and I'm the one who wrote it)

“Number 8: ‘You hold their hand.’” Hinata read. “’When we meet someone, we shake their hand as a sign of benevolence. If quickly touching someone’s hand indicates that we mean well then what does it mean when we don’t let go? I guess you can see where we’re going with this. You’ve probably been waiting for us to dive into a more physical aspect of a relationship. Physical contact can be uncomfortable but dating someone comes with a feeling of ease. You let that person not only closer to your heart but also closer to your body. Holding hands is a union of both emotional and physical trust. If you want someone to know that you like them maybe you should try to hold their hand.”

Kageyama stayed silent as Hinata finished reading. He studied his left hand.

“You do realise that you have to collaborate if we want to get anywhere with this.” Hinata remarked.

“I know that, you idiot.”

“Well, then help me, dumbass.”

“I want to help you, but–”

Silence.

“But what?”

“But I’m not sure what counts as holding hands.” Kageyama admitted.

Hinata looked at the taller boy in disbelief. This would be the perfect opportunity to make a joke, but Kageyama looked genuinely unsure that he could help, so he held back a sassy remark.

“Well there are different kinds of hand holding.” Hinata noted.

“That’s stupid. Why would there be different kind of hand holding?”

“Well one’s more like,” the shorter boy gesticulated wildly, “and the other’s more,” the gesticulation calmed down slightly.

“This,” Kageyama copied the other boy’s movement, “makes absolutely no sense. Use words, dumbass.”

Hinata seemed to debate something in his head, then a _well fuck it_ look appeared on his face.

“Give me your hand.” Hinata held out his hand.

“I think I’d rather not do that.”

“Don’t be a chicken.” Hinata grabbed the other boy’s hand. “This,” he wrapped his fingers around his friend’s hand, “this is how friends hold hands.”

“Technically we’re friends but I don’t feel comfortable with this.” Kageyama tried to free his hand from Hinata’s hold.

“Stop being such a coward. I don’t find this thrilling either but I’m being a good friend here.” He tugged on the taller boy’s hand as the latter tried again to escape his grip.

“Fine, but we’re not telling anyone we did this.”

“As if I would ever admit to this. I’d rather die.”

“Well then the feeling is mutual.”

Neither of the boys knew what to say after that. They sat in silence still holding hands.

“Uh, Hinata,” Kageyama tried. “You said there was another way to hold hands.”

“Oh yes,” Hinata stuttered. “That’s exactly what I was saying.” He loosened his hold on the other boy’s hand, readjusted his grip, then intertwined their fingers. “This is how boyfriends or girlfriends hold hands.”

Kageyama gave him a disgusted look.

“Your hands are sweaty.” He remarked before he jerked his hand of Hinata’s hold.

“You’re welcome.” The shorter boy wipped his hand on the covers of his bed. “You should write that down.”

“Why would I take notes of your stupid hand holding instructions?”

“Not that.” Hinata exclaimed. “The list.”

Kageyama, at a loss for a response, scribbled a _8 holding hands_ on the bottom of the list.

“So?” Hinata asked.

“So, what?”

“Did you hold hands?”

🏐🏐🏐

The next time Kageyama and Oikawa met up was two days after they’d gone to the fair. They met at their usual spot. They walked to the park as they always did. They put their bags down at their ever-same spot. Overall everything was the same. Yet, it felt very different to Kageyama. Oikawa’s sassy remarks no longer filled the air between them. The older boy had been unusually reserved and Kageyama could not help but miss the comfortable way in which they used to interact with each other.

Kageyama had never been someone who felt the need for close friendships. Yes, there was Hinata that somehow sneaked his way into his daily life, but Kageyama never missed Hinata. That’s mostly due to the fact that Hinata is an overpowering ball of energy that you just need to get a break from every once in a while. It was different with Oikawa. He was standing right there, yet Kageyama felt like he needed something more. He couldn’t pinpoint what it was, but he was sure that it was linked to the feeling he got in his stomach whenever he spent time with the older boy.

“If you want to learn my serve you have to keep focused.” Oikawa pulled the younger boy out of his thought throwing the ball over the net.

“I am focused.” Kageyama retorted catching the ball.

“Doesn’t look like it.”

Kageyama turned the ball between his hands. He was getting frustrated. It looked so easy when Oikawa had showed him earlier. Why did he not manage to get it right? He closed his eyes visualising the spot in which Oikawa was standing: the target. He took another deep breath. He opened his eyes again before taking the first step, then another. He threw the ball high above his head. A few more quick steps. He jumped.

“Harder!” Oikawa shouted from the other side of the net. “I should not be able to receive the ball at all if you do it right.”

Kageyama was unable to respond, he was more preoccupied with filling his lungs with much needed air.

“You’ve got the precision figured out. Now you just need to hit the hell out of the ball, and you’ve got it.” The ball rolled under the net stopping at Kageyama’s feet.

Kageyama picked up the ball still unable to speak. It took him a few more second to bring his breath back to normal. They had been practicing serves for over an hour now and he could feel every muscle in his body screaming for a break.

“If I hit harder, it won’t be as accurate.” Kageyama said when his heart finally did not feel like it was about to burst out of his chest anymore.

“Come on, now’s not the time to doubt yourself. We both know you can do it.” Oikawa encouraged him.

Kageyama took yet another deep breath. One step, two steps, the ball goes flying up in the air. He jumps.

“You’ve got it! That was amazing!” He heard Oikawa call from where he was running after the ball, he had been unable to receive.

Kageyama smiled. He had done it, finally. For a moment his entire being was filled with joy, but then he felt it: pain rushing through his right hand.

“You see I told you you could do it.” Oikawa said passing under the net. “That was perfect. You really–” He stopped as he saw the younger boy holding his hand against his chest, a pained expression covering the younger boy’s face.

“Shit.” Oikawa added after a second. He took a few fast steps to get to where Kageyama was still awkwardly holding on to his hand. “Are you ok? Where does it hurt?”

As a response Kageyama stretched his injured hand towards the older boy who wrapped one hand carefully around Kageyama’s wrist and used the other as a support for the younger boy’s fingers.

“Does this hurt?” Oikawa asked.

“No too much.” Kageyama tried but his voice was clearly marked with pain.

“It’s a bit swollen but it doesn’t look too bad.” Oikawa took a closer look at Kageyama’s hand “I guess we should tape it for now. Luckily for you I got some of that in my bag.”

Kageyama sat down and watched Oikawa go through his stuff and then taking out a bright blue tape. Kageyama stretched out his uninjured hand.

“I’ll do it.” Oikawa stated. “There’s no way you’ll get it done properly using only one hand.”

Kageyama responded with a simple “okay,” and let the older boy take is hand to look at it again.

“It’s this finger, right?” Kageyama nodded. “Ok, I’ll tape it to the one next to it for support. You should put some ice on it when you get home though.”

For a moment Oikawa worked in silence under Kageyama’s gaze.

“That was a great serve, you know?” Oikawa noted still working on the tape. “We’ll work on that again once your hand doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“I’d like that,” was all Kageyama managed to say.

“But you need to be more careful.” Oikawa’s touch was surprisingly soft and so was his voice. “Hands are the most valuable part of a volleyball players body, especially for a setter.”

“Thanks,” said Kageyama as Oikawa finished wrapping the bright blue tap around his middle and ring fingers. He took his hand out of the older boy’s hold and looked at it: the strained finger neatly fixed onto the next to it.

“Show me your hand.” The younger boy gave Oikawa a questioning look but still placed the injured hand into the other boy outstretched one.

“No, not that one.” Oikawa laughed.

“Oh,” Kageyama pulled his hand back in embarrassment. “Here.” He laid is unharmed hand into Oikawa’s.

The older boy examined the healthy hand holding it between the two of his. Kageyama had expected him to let go once he had made sure there was nothing wrong with it, but he didn’t.

“Make sure you file your nails. I wouldn’t want you to seriously hurt yourself, Kageyama.”

There was a moment of silence. He had often wished for Oikawa to stop calling him by his first name, but that was when he used it as an insult. Now, coming out of the older boy’s mouth his last name sounded wrong: putting too much distance between the two.

“Tobio.” He broke the silence.

“Sorry?”

“Call me Tobio,” the younger boy eyes were focused on where his hand laid between Oikawa’s, “please.”

His heart tensed as no response came from the older boy. His skin grew uncomfortably hot where their hands were touching. He wanted to pull back. He’d overstep the boundaries and now Oikawa would no longer want to see him. He had to get out of there.

However, before he could get the muscle of his arm to work, Oikawa warped his hand around his and laced their fingers together. The heat Kageyma had felt before only got worse. He hesitantly closed his fingers around the other boy’s. he hoped that Oikawa could not feel the same heat he was feeling, that he would not let go in disgust. If Oikawa could feel the overwhelming warmth, he did not address it. Instead, he ran his thumb over the back of Kageyama’s hand in a soothing motion.

Once Kageyama’s heart had finally slowed down enough for him to actually start to enjoy the older boy’s touch, Oikawa leaned his head against his shoulder causing Kageyama’s heart to start racing yet again.

The brown curls felt soft against his cheek. Kageyama could not help but lean into the light sent of peaches. With his head now resting on top of Oikawa’s he closed his eyes.

“Tobio?”

The younger boy nodded slightly in response.

“You can call me Tooru if you want.”

“Ok, Tooru.”

His eyes still closed Kageyama missed the triumphant smile that stretched across Oikawa’s face. 

🏐🏐🏐

“Did you hold hands?”

Instead of giving an answers Kageyama uttered some incomprehensible sounds. His faced turned bright red, as the scent of peaches clouded his mind.

“Kageyama, are you listening?” Hinata asked unable to read his friend’s expression.

“I…” the taller boy tried. The feelings of Oikawa’s hand in his, the feeling of his hair against his cheek resurfaced. “I.. he taped my hand.”

“That was this week!” Hinata exclaimed visibly glad that he could finally start to make sense out of the mess that was whatever was going on between Kageyama and Oikawa.

“Yeah, like 3 days ago.” Kageyama pointed out unsure what to do with the other boy’s burst of excitement.

“He took care of you? That’s super cute.” The shorter boy placed one hand over his heart in sign of endearment. “I wish someone would do that for me too. Whenever I get hurt you just yell at me.”

“What else am I supposed to do? You only ever get hurt from doing dumb shit.” Kageyama retorted.

“That’s not the point.” Hinata tried but failed to look offended. “Why did you get hurt anyway?”

“We were practicing serves and I–”

“His serve?” Hinata interrupted Kageyama’s explanation.

“Yes, you idiot, and if you stayed quiet for like a second, I’d tell you what happened.” Hinata lifted his hands in surrender. “He showed me his served. I tried to get it right for over an hour and probably pulled a muscle in the process.”

Hinata kept looking for a movement at Kageyama as the later had finished talking waiting for something more.

“That’s it?” He asked.

“What do you mean ‘that’s it?’?”

“Well I expected something more exciting to be honest.” Hinata admitted.

“I nearly broke my finger and you expected something more?”

Hinata might have heard the sarcasm in the other boy’s voice but he clearly decided to ignore it.

“Yeah, kind of. Did you at least get the serve right?” redirecting the conversation toward volleyball was always a sure way to avoid an argument between the two friends.

“The last one was rather good, but it took me an hour to get there.”

“But he’ll help you again, right? You’ll be able to do it in the next tournament.”

Kageyama nodded, and Hinata beamed. This was their chance to go to nationals again, and who know maybe even win there this time.

“What about the hand holding, though?” Hinata asked as he finally managed to clear some of his headspace from volleyball.

“Oh yeah, that also happened.”

It took the shorter boy a few seconds to get over the matter-off-fact way in which his friend just admitted to holding hand with his _maybe_ -boyfriend.

“You can’t just say it like that when I’ve had to pull every other piece of information out of your nose.” Hinata sneered.

“I thought you wanted me to be more direct about this.”

“Yes, but not like that.”

Kageyama looked ready to counter with a sly remark, but Hinata stopped him before he could even open his mouth.

“You know what? We’re not getting anywhere by yelling at each other. Put that checkmark and we can just move on to the next point.” Hinata watched as Kageyama put a _v_ shape next to the point number _8_ _holding hands._ “Great, so number 9.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Thanks for reading!  
> I'm sorry for the long wait, but sadly uni comes first and I had so so much to do with essays and exams! But now that it's summer time I'll get to update regularly!
> 
> As always all kudos and comments are appreciated!  
> If you want to follow me on twitter the link is [here](https://twitter.com/oioi_trkw)
> 
> See you on the next chapter!


	10. you kiss Oikawa Tooru

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the one that's not quite like the others

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> before we start with this chapter I would just like to point out that I made some minor changes to the previous chapters just to make sure that the timeline actually makes sense. I just changed a few days of the week and numbers of days between certain events just to have it actually work out correctly.

“Number 9: ‘you kiss them,’” Hinata read. His attention suddenly shifted from the article and towards his friend. The look on the ginger boy’s face was piercing.

“What?” 

“Have you kissed him?” Hinata asked under his breath.

“N–“

“Wait! No! Did he kiss you? It’s unlikely that you kissed him first.” It should not have been physically possible, but Hinata started talking even faster. “How was it? Tell me everything!”

“We haven’t kissed.” Kageyama countered. “Do you really think I would have asked for your help figuring out if we’re dating if we’d kissed, dumbass.”

“Fair enough.” Hinata looked slightly disappointed. “Wait!” The disappointment shifted into mistrust.

Kageyama eyed the shorter boy warily. That was the expression that crossed Hinata’s face whenever he was coming up with some new scheme to get some more practice in without the team noticing, and most importantly getting told off.

“You’ve been holding information back since the very beginning. Why should I trust you on this?”

“Because I’m telling you how it is.” Kageyama didn’t know what else to say.

“Exactly!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m not quite sure but I’m not letting you off the hook until we’ve looked at this point carefully.” Hinata turned back to the article.

“Weren’t you the one who said that I’d notice if I had someone else’s tong in my mouth?” Kageyama looked down at the notebook seemingly surprised by the words that had just slipped from his lips.

“At this point I’m no longer sure if you’d even notice that.” Hinata said in a matter-of-fact voice. “We’re doing this seriously. You’re writing the point down on the list. I read the article. We discuss it. And then we decide whether or not it deserves a checkmark.”

There were a few second of silence in which Kageyama just looked at Hinata surprised by how the shorter boy suddenly took control of the situation.

“What are you waiting for? Write the next point down!” Hinata directed.

“Ok, no need to get all bossy.” Kageyama reluctantly wrote _9\. Kissing_ at the bottom of the list.

“Good, now we can do this properly.”

Kageyama was still not quite sure how to deal with this new and kind of intimidating Hinata. He thought it best just to let him do his thing until he calmed down a bit. So, he listened as the shorter boy read the next section of the article.

““Number 9: ‘you kiss them: Kissing holds a high place in our understanding of romance. How many great romantic movies end with a kiss? We’ve tried to count them and there are a lot of them. So, please do not try to list them all. We’ve started to address the physical aspects of a relationship in the previous point and here we are taking it one step further. While other forms of physical intimacy such as holding hands and cuddling can also happen between friends, we usually see kissing—especially on the lips—as something reserved exclusively to lovers. While this is not a fool proof way to tell if you are in a relationship with that person; if the kissing happens repeatedly over a long period of time, it is very likely that you are in fact dating.’” Once done reading Hinata turned to his friend. “And?”

“My answer is still the same. You reading this very dramatically doesn’t change the fact that I haven’t kissed Oikawa.” Kageyama noted.

“But has he kissed you?” Hinata tried.

“That’s the same thing.”

“Is it, though?”

“How would you know?”

“Maybe I’ve kissed someone before.” Hinata said challengingly crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Kageyama seemed uncertain what to do with what the ginger boy had just said. “Have you really?”

“No, I have not.” The shorter boy admitted. His friend had asked him a genuine question and he just had to respond honestly. “I just got really excited for you having your first kiss. Sorry I overreacted.”

“It’s ok. I mean it was kind of a stupid idea to begin with.” Kageyama gave the list a downcast look.

“But like that doesn’t have to mean anything. Neither of us have ever kissed someone or been kissed for that matter. Maybe we just don’t know what counts as a kiss.” Hinata said encouragingly.

“I’m not going to kiss you!” Kageyama exclaimed horrified.

“I don’t want you to kiss me. Why would you think that?” Hinata looked just as shocked as the other boy.

“How am I supposed to know what goes down in that head of yours? Not even 10 minutes ago you practically forced me to hold your hand.”

“I sacrificed my own sanity to show you what holding hands is and that’s the thanks I get?” Hinata giggled lightly; partly due to the sheer ridiculousness of the misunderstanding and partly out of relief that he was not actually going to kiss his best friend. “I meant like looking up the definition or something.”

“Oh,” Kageyama relaxed a little. “That does make more sense. Ok so what exactly does it mean?”

“Well,” Hinata opened a new tab on the browser and typed in _kiss definition,_ “according to google it means ‘touch or caress with the lips as a sign of love, sexual desire, or greeting.’ Does any of that sound familiar?”

Hinata was still looking at the screen expecting an answer, but it never came. After a few more seconds he turned to Kageyama ready to scold him for not cooperating again, but he stopped before any form of insult could slip past his lips as he saw the taller boy looking intensely at the notebook he was now clutching between his hands.

Hinata was not sure what to make of the tense expression that intensified the other boy’s already sharp features. If he had to guess, he would have said that it was sadness, but he had seen Kageyama when he was sad. There was that time when they got eliminated at their first inter-high tournament. But this was something else. Where losing the tournament had felt like a failure, this seemed to be a disappointment of another nature. Whatever had motivated the taller boy to get along with Hinata’s drive to get to the bottom of the ‘is Kageyama dating the Great King’ question—had it been actual curiosity or just boredom—had evaporated and given place to whatever this was.

Kageyama took a deep breath, loosened his grip around the notebook which now wore the signs of the mistreatment. After laying it down on the bed next to him he stood up uncertain what to do next.

“We should stop this. This is stupid.” He managed to say after a few moments of just standing there.

“Are you sure? I mean just because this point–”

“Hinata, stop it!” Kageyama interjected. “It’s getting close to dinner time anyway,” he added not checking his watch. “I should go home. My mum will worry.”

Hinata sat in silence as he watched the other boy gather his things and getting ready to leave. He tried to stand up to show him out but was only met with a look that clearly meant _leave me alone,_ so he just stayed where he was: computer on his lap, the definition of to kiss looking at him threateningly from the screen.

Kageyama had left the room, closing the door just slightly harder than necessary. Now alone Hinata turned his attention back to the screen. He closed the google tab and was greeted by the colourful layout of the _Teen Vogue_ website. He was about to close the whole browser when curiosity got the better of him. He had to know what the last point was. He would not bring it up to Kageyama but he just had to know. So, he scrolled.

“Kageyama!” Hinata threw the computer on the bed and hurried out of the room. “Kageyama! You have to see the last point of the article!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oi oi lovely people! 
> 
> I'm kinda sorry about this chapter, but it had to be like that. I swear it'll all get better really soon. 
> 
> The next chapter will be the last one for this fic which is really sad, and I can't believe I've made it this far. The last chapter will be an actually ending, so you can read this fic as a stand alone piece. However, there will be a sequel to this fic if you want to walk this crazy walk with me a little longer. The last chapter of this fic will be updated at the same time as the first chapter of the sequel. I will try to get them both out next Sunday, but I can't make promises as I'll be updating two chapter instead of just one.
> 
> As always thanks for reading!  
> All kudos and comments are welcome!  
> If you want to follow me on twitter the link is [here.](https://twitter.com/oioi_trkw)
> 
> See you on the next chapter!!


	11. Dating Oikawa Tooru can be anything you want it to be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a very important question gets ask
> 
> (or some actually good advice from the fictionalised teen magazine)

“Kageyama! You have to see the last point of the article!” Hinata’s screams could be heard from outside the house accompanied by the noise of the shorter boy running down the stairs. A few second later the front door burst open. “Kageyma!–” Hinata had to brace himself in order to not fall over the other boy that was sitting on the steps in front of his house.

“What?”

“Why are you still here?” Hinata started. “Actually, that doesn’t matter.” He added before the other boy could answer. “You have to come back upstairs and take a look at the last point.”

“And why would I do that?” Kageyama stood up. “I don’t even know what I was waiting here for. As I said, it’s getting late; my mum will get worried.”

“It’s not even six yet, we usually stay a lot later at school when we have practice.” The taller boy ignored Hinata’s comment and proceeded to walk the few steps that led from the shorter boy’s house to the street. “Come on, it’s really important that you read the last point!” Hinata insisted.

“Do you really want to humiliate me this badly?” Kageyama had stopped at the bottom of the stairs his back turn to Hinata.

“That’s not it,” Hinata was left staring at the backside of the other boy’s head, “but I really want you to see it. We can’t just stop there.”

“And then what?” Hinata was taken aback by how suddenly Kageyama turned to face him. “What? You’re going to make fun of me for getting my hopes up? And why wouldn’t you? The socially awkward Kageyama really thought someone might actually like him. So, what could possibly come after kissing? Something else that makes it bluntly obvious that Oikawa would never see me as more than an annoying kohai? Is that really what–”

“Shut up!” Hinata interrupted. The air between the two boys felt thick, Kageyama was staring furiously at him but Hinata did not care. “You’re probably dating the Great King. Well at least the article does not clearly say that you aren’t.”

Kageyama’s featured softened from anger to confusion. “What did you just say?”

“I said that it’s very likely that you do in fact have a boyfriend.”

“Does it really say that?” Kageyama asked shyly and any resentment Hinata might have felt for getting shouted at disappeared.

“Yes, it does.” Hinata answered earnestly.

Kageyama climbed the few steps that separated him form Hinata, and past the shorter boy.

“Hey, wait for me!”

Once they’d made it back to Hinata’s bedroom, the two boys took their spots on the bed. Hinata had the laptop on his lap and Kageyama held the now miserable looking notebook in one hand and a pen in the other.

“Ok, you ready?” Kageyama gave him an uncertain yet affirmative nod. “Number 10: ‘dating is whatever you want it to be.’” Hinata stole another look at the taller boy whose hands was shaking so slightly. “‘From what we’ve told you so far you might have concluded whether or not you are dating that special person in your life. While the information that has been provided so far can be a good indicator to determine the status of your relationship, whether that person is your friend or something more cannot be reduced to 10 points. You don’t have to complete all the actions mentioned above for your relationship to be a romantic one. You haven’t met their parents? That’s fine. You’re not keen on holding hands? No problem. You haven’t kissed and maybe you don’t even want to? That’s okay and does not mean that you aren’t dating. The only real way to tell whether or not you are dating that special person is to ask them. At the end of the day the relationship you and that person are building is completely in your control. Dating is whatever the two of you want it to be. So, if you want to date them all that’s left to do now is to take matters into your own hands and ask them out. Good luck! You’ve got this!’”

Hinata looked at the computer screen waiting for his friend to say something, but Kageyama kept quiet.

“You know what that means, right?” Hinata asked.

Kageyama hesitated for a moment. “I might be dating Oikawa?” He tried tentatively.

“You can be if you want to be. Do you want to date him?”

The question sounded so easy, yet Kageyama struggled to find an answer. He thought back to all the time he’d spend with Oikawa those past weeks. How much he’d enjoyed playing volleyball with the older boy. How nice it had been to spend time together away from the court. And not to forget the warm feeling that’d filled his chest when Oikawa had laced their hands together. It turned out that the question wasn’t that hard to answer after all.

“I want to date Oikawa.”

“Then you have to ask him out.”

“I have to what now?”

“You have to ask him to be your boyfriend.”

“I cannot do that.” 

“You have to.”

Kageyama seemed to struggle with the idea of confessing to Oikawa. There was quite a bit at stake here. Over the past few weeks Kageyama had grown accustomed to Oikawa’s presence and the thought of going back to his previous Oikawa-free live was unbearable.

“If it helps, from what I’ve gathered. I’m pretty sure he wants to date you too.” Hinata offered.

“You really think so?” Kageyama asked after a few seconds of silence.

“Positive.”

Kageyama visibly relaxed. Hinata felt very proud of himself. He’d proven that he was a great friend. He was someone you could trust with your problems and that would help you work through them. Yes, Kageyama was looking a little confused but the taller boy always struggled to express his feelings and was probably just trying to find the correct words to thank Hinata for helping him.

“Can I borrow your bike?” Kageyama put the pen and notebook down before standing up ready to leave.

Hinata had expected bad wordings, he even expected an insult as a _thank you_ , but he sure as hell did not expect that.

“You want to borrow my bike? Like now?”

“No, in like a month.” Sarcasm obvious in the taller boy’s voice. “Of course, now. What are you? Stupid?”

“You don’t need to call me dumb. How am I supposed to know? I can’t read your mind.” Hinata uttered, offended. And then slightly confused, “where are you planning to go?”

“I have a boy to ask out.” Kageyama answered as if it were the most logical thing ever and judging Hinata for asking the obvious.

“Now?”

“Yes, now.”

“But you don’t even know where he is.”

“Actually, I think I might.” A smug smile stretched across Kageyama’s face. “You’re bike’s in front of the garage, right?”

“Wait! I didn’t tell you ~~;~~ you could use it.”

“I’ll bring it back tomorrow. I promise.”

Hinata might like to tease his friend but he was not cruel, so nodded. “Just make sure I have it for Monday morning.”

“Great! See you on Monday.”

Kageyama was about to leave the room when Hinata – still a little taken aback by the sudden turn of events – called after him. “Hold on for a second.” He closed the laptop, reached for the notebook and the pen. In his neatest handwriting he added a _dating is whatever you want it to be_ at the bottom of the _10 signs you’re dating the Grand King_ list and next to it a checkmark. He thought for a second and also wrote _ask him out_ at the very end of the list just in case Kageyama needed a little reminder which would probably be the case. He tore of the page and folded it half. “Here take that.” Kageyama did as he was told. He shoved the paper into the back pocket of his jeans without a word and then left the room.

Hinata was left alone, siting on his bed happy for his friend, but also a little offended for the lack of gratitude. He’ll have to force Kageyama to buy him meat buns every day after school the next week for his assistance in getting him a boyfriend.

“Hey, Hinata!” Someone called from under his window. As Hinata took a look outside Kageyama stood next to his bike. “Thanks for helping me. I owe you one.”

Yes, Kageyama certainly owed him one, but now that he’d thanked him for his hard work Hinata would only force him to by him meat buns for half of the week. That being three days. He had to round it up because two and a half meat buns just wouldn’t do it.

🏐🏐🏐

Kageyama didn’t exactly lie when he said that he might know where Oikawa was. He did have an idea as to where the older boy could be. He had gotten a text from him the previous day asking whether he was free to practice at the park in the afternoon. Kageyama did have to reject the offer. However, knowing Oikawa, the chances of him being at the park practicing on his own were extremely high.

The bike ride from Hinata’s place to the park where Kageyama and Oikawa meet up to train would take any normal person on a normal day about half an hour, but Kageyama was not just any normal person and today definitely wasn’t really normal either. So, a little more than 15 minutes after having left Hinata’s house, Kageyama locked his friend’s bike at the entrance of the park.

As expected, Oikawa was at the park’s wannabe volleyball court practicing his server. The ball flying over the net, followed by the boy duking underneath the net to retrieve it repeating the same procedure from the other side.

Kageyama observed the back and forth from a distance. He was close enough for Oikawa to see him, but the older boy was too absorbed in his serves to notice what was happening around him. It had been this focus and complete dedication that had fascinated Kageyama back in middle school. Now years later, he still stared in awe as Oikawa moved across the court as if nothing else existed. Kageyama thought about a time when he’d see that determination on his side of the court and couldn’t help but smile. He wasn’t quite sure when that opportunity would come. College? Vleague? The Olympics? They’d learn to work together as team all over again. They’d be a force to reckon with on and off the court; as teammates and potentially boyfri–

His daydream was cut short by a sudden impact between a flying object and his head, followed by someone screaming “oh shit” and next thing he knew he was laying on the ground. He closed his eyes for a few seconds trying to get the world to stop turning upside down. As he opened his eyes again, he was met with a worried looking Oikawa staring down at him.

“I’m so sorry, Tobio. I thought you’d catch that. Are okay?” Oikawa said more than that but Kageyama head wasn’t able to register any of it. The older boy carefully laid his hand on the spot what must have been the volleyball hit Kageyama’s head. “Does it hurt?”

It took Kageyama a few seconds to manoeuvre through his disarranged thoughts to formulate an answer. “I’m fine.” He tried to stand up, but instantly regretted it as the world decided to start turn again. “Just give me a minute.” He sat back down pressing his eyes closed again.

“Are you sure you’re okay? That looked painful.”

“I’m okay. I just didn’t see the ball coming.” He slowly opened his eyes again, once his head stopped feeling like it was filled with cotton. Oikawa had sat down next to him a guilty expression tugged at his usually careless features. “So much for the title of volleyball prodigy.” Kageyama added hopping it would get the other boy to relax a little. Oikawa gave him a soft smile. Well that ended up working better than he could have anticipated. It really wasn’t Oikawa’s fault Kageyama had zoned out thinking about a possible future of them as teammates and boyfr–

Oh, he’d completely forgotten about that for a second. He was suddenly hyperaware of the spot on which the list in his pocket pressed against his leg. In his mind this had worked out a lot more smoothly and sure as hell did not involve any volleyballs being thrown at his head and a possible mild concussion.

“Are you really certain you’re fine? You look pale.”

Kageyama nodded aiming for an _I am doing great right now_ look which –considering Oikawa reaction– must have turned out to look more like a _I am absolutely not doing great right now_ look. His second attempt to stand up ended up being successful mostly due to Oikawa help, but nevertheless he’d finally left his embarrassing half-seated half-laying down position.

“Again, I’m really really sorry about that. I swear I thought you’d be able to get that serve. You seemed so focused on what I was doing. What got you so worked up that you lost your genius superpowers?”

“Uh, about that,” Kageyama dug his hand into the pocket that contained the list trying to ground himself for what he was about to do. “So, well I was talking to Hinata and he like kinda insinuated something that I like disagreed with, but then we read that article and made a list and it was all well until it wasn’t and then–”

“Are you like a hundred percent sure you’re okay, Tobio?” The older boy stopped him before more gibberish could come out of Kageyama’s mouth. “You’re not making much sense right now. You might have a mild concussion. Maybe we should get that checked out.”

Kageyama took a step back as the other boy reached for him. “No, it’s all good just give me a second.” He pulled the list out of his pocket. Oikawa gave him a questioning look. “I was at Hinata’s place and he asked me if I’m dating someone. I don’t know anything about dating so it just never crossed my mind that that might be the case, but Hinata insisted that it was the case. So, we read an article about dating and made a list”

Kageyama’s hand trembled slightly as he offered the paper the Oikawa. The older boy took it hesitantly.

“Do you want me to read this?” Kageyama nodded quickly before turning his eyes away from Oikawa. Staring at the ground the time it took for the older boy to read through the list seemed to stretch into infinity. The more time passed the more his urge to run away grew. He was close to break into a sprint –despite the possible concussion – as Oikawa finally spoke. “Is this about me?”

“Yes,” Kageyama confirmed still avoiding the other boy’s eyes, “but that doesn’t mean we’re dating. I mean the article said that people who date kiss, and like we haven’t done that.” He could hit himself right about now for discuss kissing in front of someone who might not even be interested in him.

“You’re right. We haven’t kissed,” Oikawa noted sounding almost surprised by this realisation.

“Yeah, that’s why I thought we might not be dating, but Hinata said that doesn’t have to be the case.”

“That shrimp is smarter than he looks,” Kageyama would have laughed if he wasn’t going through the most mind wrecking moment of his life, “and I think he left a message for you.”

As Kageyama finally looked up again to take the paper back, the worried look on Oikawa’s face switched for one that Kageyama couldn’t make sense off. Turning to the list he was met with the line _ask him out_ stood in Hinata’s horrendous handwriting at the bottom of the page. The redhead must have thought that he was being super helpful adding a little reminder for his friend, but the stress Kageyama was under right now did not mix well with his general inaptitude to face social situations.

He took a deep breath. People asked each other out all the time. How bad could it be? He took a deep breath gathering all the courage he could get.

“Are we dating?”

Oikawa seemed to think about it for a bit. Kageyama could have sworn that his heart skipped a few beats, but then the older boy smiled. “That’s not how you ask that, Tobio.”

“What?”

“If you want me to be your boyfriend you’ll have to ask properly.” The older boy made a very bad attempt at pretending to be offended.

Wishing desperately that he had he could trade even the slightest bit of his understanding of volleyball for a better understanding of human interaction Kageyama tried his best to make sense of the situation he found himself in. He looked at Oikawa almost expecting to be met with a mocking look. Instead, the older boy sported an encouraging smile.

“Would you please be my boyfriend, Tooru?” He blurted out unsure if that was really what he was supposed to say.

“You’re so mean, Tobio.” Oikawa wined and Kageyama froze. Had he said something wrong? “I wanted to be the one to ask. I’ll accept, though only because you were so cute when you asked.” The confusion Kageyama felt must have been visible on his face because Oikawa added, “Yes, I want to be your boyfriend.”

There were a few seconds of silence in which the two boys just looked at each other, and Kageyama could feel his insides combust. He tried his best not to look as if he were about to go up in flames any second now. The tension that had taken over his whole body at the sole thought of confronting the older boy had evaporated. Kageyama wanted to say something, _anything_ , but the words got lost somewhere between his brain and his mouth. He had to do something. The boy he liked just accepted to be his boyfriend. He could not just stand there like an idiot. So, he did something that did not require words. He seized Oikawa wrist and pulled the other boy against him in a tight embrace. He pressed his face into his boyfriend’s –yes because that what he was now– neck and let himself be consumed by the warmth he felt as Oikawa wrapped his arms around him.

They stayed like that for a few moments. It was nice. No, more than just nice. It felt right as if this was exactly where he was supposed to be; cocooned in warmth and the smell of peaches.

Once Kageyama had gotten over the initial shock of actually making it this far, the space in his stomach from which the worries of rejection had vanished only moments earlier started to fill with another unpleasant feeling.

“About the kiss.” He started keeping a strong grip on Oikawa. It was easier to talk from here where you didn’t have to face the other person’s immediate reaction.

“Do you want me to kiss you?” Oikawa’s tone was light. This was a question not a request.

It took the younger boy a few moments to think about it because yes, he did want Oikawa to kiss him, but… “Not right now. If that’s okay?”

“Of course.”

“But at some point.” The words passed his before he could really think about it. The older boy laughed as he slowly pulled away.

“As your little list said this is whatever you want it to be.” Oikawa reached tentatively for Kageyama’s hand. “Is this okay?”

“More than okay.”

“Good.” They exchanged a look both smiling as what could best be described as idiots. “I still owe you one for knocking you out. What about some Kakigōri from the stand down the street?”

“Only if they have melon syrup.” Kageyama said almost teasingly.

“What kind of a boyfriend would I be if I took you to a Kakigōri stand that doesn’t even have melon syrup?”

They made their way to the stand walking hand in hand.

🏐🏐🏐

Later that night, Kageyama was about to turn his phone off after having sent his now boyfriend a quick _goodnight_ text as he got a message from Hinata.

[From Hinata]  
>>ok you don’t want to tell me now but you’ll have to tell me on Monday  
>>btw this is for you! You’ll need it ;)

The messages were followed by a link. He opened it. The page took a few moments to load. The first thing showing was the now familiar _Teen Vogue_ logo. Underneath was the title of an article: _5 things you should know before kissing someone._ Kageyama sighed. He turned off his phone but not before bookmarking the webpage for possible future reference.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! 
> 
> Before anything else I'd like to apologise about the delay, turns out writing a final chapter is a lot harder than I had anticipated. 
> 
> That being said I'd like to thanks everybody for reading this fic. I really hope you've enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it (this does not include the last chapter that shit was hell to write) 
> 
> Little update on the sequel: I will not be posting it with this chapter as I had initially planned. In order to actually be able to uphold an acceptable posting schedule I will write a few chapters before starting to upload. This will allow me to write more freely and not be under too much pressure to get stuff done fast. So, I hope I'll see you lovely people there once I start uploading! 
> 
> As always all kudos and comments are welcome!  
> If you want to follow me on twitter the link is [Link's here](https://twitter.com/oioi_trkw)  
> Again thanks you all for reading!!!


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